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An EgyptAir passenger jet en route to Cairo from Paris MISSING after it went off radar
over the Mediterranean Sea earlier today. Flight MS-804 disappeared about 45 minutes
before its expected arrival in the Egyptian capital early Thursday morning.
Our Hwang Ho-jun has been following the latest on this story.
Hojun, conflicting reports we've been seeing all day... it seems as though we do not have
anything solid just yet. What do we know for sure so far?
Well Connyoung, Egypt’s aviation minister, Sherif Fathy said there is no additional information
on the missing plane. He said that he will continue to use the term "missing plane" until
debris has been found. But French President Francois Hollande told
reporters that information he's been given confirms the plane has crashed but he's not
ruling out any scenarios.
"The information we have gathered - ministers, members of government and, of course, the
Egyptian authorities - confirm, sadly, that it has crashed. It is lost."
The plane was flying from Paris to Cairo, and about 16 kilometers into Egyptian airspace,...
at an altitude of 11 km when it vanished from radar around 2:30 a.m. Cairo time.
The Egyptian and Greek governments have deployed search and rescue teams to the area where
the aircraft disappeared from radar. The Greek defense minister said his government
confirmed the plane swerved 90 degres to the left and dropped from 11 km to 4.6 km before
swerving 60 degrees right and then vanishing. Greece has also asked for help to sift through
satellite information on the flight.
Hojun, reports say the plane's captain had over 6,000 flying hours and routine maintenance
checks on the plane were completed Wednesday. Reports also show clear weather at the time
the plane disappeared. Are we ruling out the possibility of this being a terror attack?
No... nothing is being ruled out at this point, including the possibility of a mechanial error.
But for obvious reasons... the shadow of terrorism casting over people's minds is inevitable.
It was less than a year ago when ISIS planted a bomb on a Russian passenger jet.
But as of now, there is no evidence of foul play. There were no reports from the cabin
crew before the plane vanished. The vice president of Egypt Air, Ahmed Adel also said there was
no suspicious cargo on the flight.
Hojun, do we know whether any Korean nationals were on board the missing plane?
Seoul's foreign affairs ministry has confirmed that no Korean nationals were on board. According
to the airline, the majority of passengers were Egyptians. There were also 15 French
nationals, as well as passengers from other countries, including the UK, Belgium, Kuwait,
Saudi Arabia, and Canada. As of now, the number of people who were on
board stands at 66, with 56 of them being passengers...including a child and two infants.
There were also 7 crew members and 3 security officials.
Thanks, Hojun. Our Hwang Hojun with the very latest on the missing EgyptAir flight MS-804.