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EgyptAir Flight MS804 crashed in the Mediterranean Sea, terrorism not ruled out

BY Desiree Huitt

56 passengers and a crew of 10 went missing as their flight (plane is a an Airbus A320) disappeared from radar as they approached Egypt from France approximately 02:45 Cairo time. On the radar below you can see them drop off near Egypt over the Mediterranean Sea. EgyptAir stated (in the second tweet below) that “the plane […]

56 passengers and a crew of 10 went missing as their flight (plane is a an Airbus A320) disappeared from radar as they approached Egypt from France approximately 02:45 Cairo time. On the radar below you can see them drop off near Egypt over the Mediterranean Sea. EgyptAir stated (in the second tweet below) that “the plane faded within 10 miles of Egyptian airspace.” The plane reportedly crashed within 130 nautical miles of the  Greek Island of Karpathos.  According to the Guardian,

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French French President François Holland Flight confirmed that the plane crashed and that terrorism could not be ruled out.

The Greek defence minister, Panos Kammenos, said the plane made “sudden swerves” in mid-air and plunged before dropping off radars in the southern Mediterranean.

“The plane carried out a 90-degree turn to the left and a 360-degree turn to the right, falling from 37,000ft to 15,000ft, and the signal was lost at around 10,000ft,” Kammenos said.

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Egypt has launched a search operation. At least eight merchant ships and French Greek aircraft have joined the search.

Nationalities listed on the flight manifest (translated from third tweet below):

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  • 30 Egyptian
  • 15 French
  • 2 Iraqi
  • 1 British
  • 1 Belgian
  • 1 Sudanese
  • 1 Chadian
  • 1 Portuguese
  • 1 Algerian

 

Egypt has had several security issues over the past few years. In March 2016, EgyptAir Flight MS181 was “hijacked” by a man with a fake suicide belt in order to speak with his ex-wife. Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed in October 2015 killing 224 on board. The device said to be used to bring down the aircraft was cleverly hidden in a soda can, which ISIS published an illustration in DARIQ magazine shortly after the crash.

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This is the type of explosive device ISIS claimed brought down Metrojet Flight 9268

Additionally, an EgyptAir mechanic was one of four men with connections to ISIS that were arrested for possibly playing a role in the bombing of MetroJet Flight 9268. The crash of EgyptAir MS804 now calls into question the security at France’s Charles de Gaulle airport where the plane originally departed as well as the airports it stopped at prior to Paris.

Reference: The Guardian Live Feed

Image courtesy of Reuters

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