Egypt Air flight 804 travelling from Paris to the Egyptian capital Cairo, has gone missing while flying over the Mediterranean. Officials have revealed that there were 56 passengers and 10 crew members on board the flight.
As the search for the missing plane is being carried out, more details are being revealed by the Egyptian authorities and airline officials. Though the authorities have initially said that no distress signal was sent from the plane, their records are being contradicted as officials have revealed that the flight infact did send out a distress signal. Egypt Air has said that the plane's emergency devices, possibly an emergency locator transmitter or beacon did send a signal which was received at 4:26am (local time). This was reportedly two hours after the last contact via radar, but could possibly be an automated distress signal from an emergency locator beacon.
Egyptian navy, airforce and coastguard are all involved in the search. Reports show that Greece has also joined the search taking place around 280km north of the Egyptian coast in the Mediterranean, sending two aircrafts and a frigate. Greece also has two helicopters on standby in case rescue efforts are necessary. The French have also reportedly offered their assistance in the search for the missing plane.
Egypt's Prime minister Sharif Ismail who is a former engineer has also been briefed about the details of the missing plane. He has directed all concerned authorities to take necessary actions in locating the missing plane.
There have been no updates on the status of the missing flight. The French authorities have set up a hotline for concerned relatives and well-wishers wishing to hear updates about the people on the plane.
