Egyptian aviation officials say an EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board has crashed.
According to Egypts Aviation Ministry, the passengers included 30 Egyptians, 15 French and one Briton.
The Airbus A320was flying at 37,000 feet (11,300 meters) when it went missing over the eastern Mediterranean, 10 miles into the Egyptian airspace.
An official said the plane lost contact with radar at 02:45 Cairo time (00:45 GMT).
The airline said theflight sent a distress message before vanishing from radar screens that was detected by the military.
The message was received at 0226 GMT, less than 10 minutes before the flight disappeared, AFP quoted it as saying.
Greek Defense Ministry said it has deployed frigate, military aircraft to southern Mediterranean in an effort to locate the plane.
Greek authorities were alsoinvestigating an account from the captain of a merchant ship whoreported a "flame in the sky" some 130 nautical miles south ofthe Karpathos island.
The countrys civil aviation chief said the flight disappeared from radars two minutes after leaving Greek airspace.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said nothing can be ruled out regarding the possible cause of the crash.
An Airbus A321 operated by Russia's Metrojet crashed in Egypt's Sinai peninsulaonOctober 31, 2015, killing all 224 people on board.
The plane was likelybrought down by a bomb, and the Daesh Takfiri groupsaid it had smuggled an explosive on board.
In March, an EgyptAir plane flying from Alexandria to Cairowas hijacked and forced to land in Cyprus by an "unstable" man who demanded to see his ex-wife.
By Press TV
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