Egyptian PM doesn't rule out terrorism behind EgyptAir jet's disappearance
“It’s still too early to speak of the reasons for the disappearance of the aircraft,” Ismail told journalists, adding that he does not exclude the possibility of a terrorist act on board.
Egypt Air Flight MS804 departed from the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at 23:09 GMT. The aircraft was heading for Cairo International Airport. According to the airline, there were a total of 66 people on board the plane, including 56 passengers.
Earlier French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that no assumption can be ruled out at this stage on the causes of the disappearance of the Airbus A320 of the EgyptAir airline.
"No hypothesis can be rejected at the current stage on the causes of this [aircraft’s] disappearance," Valls told the RTL broadcaster.
France is ready to participate in searches for the missing plane, he stressed.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Thursday said French aircraft and ships will be sent into the area of the missing EgyptAir passenger jet that disappeared in Mediterranean Sea to help with search and rescue efforts.
Greece and Egypt’s armed forces have both joined efforts in searching for the missing plane.
Earlier in the day, media reports, citing a Greek civil aviation source, suggested that the EgyptAir plane had crashed near Karpathos. The Hellenic National Defense General Staff denied the information.
The Hellenic National Defense General Staff told Sputnik Thursday it was unable to confirm that EgyptAir flight MS804 crashed near the Greek island of Karpathos, as no debris had been found.
Answering a question whether the General Staff had any information regarding what they had found, the press office said, "We don’t have. We are waiting from the coast guard. Until now we did not find anything."
Source: Sputniknews
Photo: © REUTERS/ Christian Hartmann
