MS804 plane crash. 
 
 
 
 7:00pm Egypt's aviation ministry said a letter it received from the country's foreign ministry says that Greek authorities have found “floating objects” that are part of the plane wreckage. 
 
 
 
 Pieces of plastic as well as lifejackets have also been found near the island of Karpathos, the ministry added in a statement. 
 
 
 
 "Family members of passengers and crew have been already informed and we extend our deepest sympathies to those affected," EgyptAir said. 
 
 
 
 "The Egyptian Investigation Team in co-operation with the Greek counterpart are still searching for other remains of the missing plane." 
 
 
 
 6:40pm France is sending three investigators to Cairo along with a technical expert from Airbus, to join the probe into the EgyptAir flight that crashed Thursday, Transport Minister Alain Vidalies said, according to AFP. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6:00pm The Egyptian Armed forces said in a statement that the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Italy, France and Greece are cooperating in the search for the missing plane. The statement confirmed that the search is still ongoing. 
 
 
 
 5:45pm A Greek frigate discovered two large floating objects in a sea area 230 miles south of the island of Crete, Reuters reported. The objects appeared to be pieces of plastic in white and red. They were spotted close to an area where a transponder signal was emitted earlier, according to Greek defence sources. 
 
 
 
 5:35pm According to the Guardian correspondent, an EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo is departing now. 
 
 
 
 5:15pm Egypt’s aviation ministry denied in a statement reports “about finding the plane debris over the Greek island of Crete.” 
 
 
 
 “EgyptAir contacted concerned sides who did not confirm the published information is accurate,” read the statement. 
 
 
 
 4:45pm Egypt’s State TV says no confirmation yet from Egypt's aviation ministry that plane wreckage has been found. 
 
 
 
 4:30pm Egypt's health ministry announced that family members of the victims of the EgyptAir MS804 plane were aided by a medical team at Cairo International Airport for conditions varying from a mental breakdown to a rise in blood pressure. 
 
 Nine family members received aid at the Airport while one was referred to EgyptAir Hospital. 
 
 Greek state TV said authorities found aircraft parts in the sea while looking for the missing flight MS308, Reuters reported. 
 
 3:15pm Greek military official says an Egyptian search plane has located two orange items believed to be from the missing EgyptAir flight, AP reported. 
 
 The official says the items were found 230 miles (370 kilometers) south-southeast of the island of Crete but still within the Egyptian air traffic control area. One of the items was oblong, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations. 
 
 
 
 3:08pm Missing EgyptAir MS804 debris found South of Greek Island of Karpathos in Southern Meditereanean according to Greek State TV 
 
 2:35pm Egyptian aviation minister Fathy told reporters during the press conference that the “possibility of a terror attack is higher than that of a technical error,” according to an Ahram Online reporter. 
 
 Answering Ahram Online's question on why he believes it was likely a terrorist attack rather than a technical error, Fathy said: "I said so based on what I read and from my expertise, but these remain assumptions and possible scenarios. I will still use the word ‘missing’ till we find the debris." 
 
 2:20pm Egypt's Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadek ordered an investigation into the incident, according to a prosecution statement. 
 
 Sadek commissioned the Supreme State Security Prosecution to conduct investigations into the matter. 
 
 2:15pm Egypt’s aviation minister said that the last contact with plane was at 2:30am Cairo time. Authorities tried to contact the flight again at 2:50am but there was no response. 
 
 Fathy also said that Egypt will cooperate with French authorities to investigate to the disappearance of the plane. 
 
 1:45pm Egypt's Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy said in a press conference that Egypt does not refute the assumption that the missing EgyptAir aircraft might have crashed due to a terrorist attack or a malfunction or any other scenario. 
 
 Fathy stressed that they will continue to say that the Airbus 320 is “missing until the debris is found.” 
 
 1:40pm Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov said on Thursday that a terrorist act might be linked to the disappearance of EgyptAir's MS 804. 
 
 “It is extremely unfortunate that today one more incident happened with a plane from the Egyptian Airlines. It seems that this is a terrorist act, which resulted in the deaths of 66 citizens from around 12 countries,” Bortnikov said during a press conference. 
 
 Egypt said that it is not ruling out that the airliner may have crashed due to a terrorist attack or a technical malfunction. 
 
 1:30pm Greece's civil aviation department released a statement with a timeline on Egypt Air MS 804's latest moments and Greek attempts to contact it. 
 
 1:10pm Greek's Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said on Thursday that no results have been obtained so far in the search for the missing EgyptAir aircraft, Reuters reported. 
 
 Kammenos said that until now there was only a picture obtained of the missing plane that was in Egyptian airspace mid-air and made sudden swerves. 
 
 "At 3.39am the course of the aircraft was south and south-east of Kassos and Karpathos (islands)..immediately after it entered Cairo FIR and made swerves and a descent I describe; 90 degrees left and then 360 degrees to the right," Defence Minister Panos Kammenos told a news conference. 
 
 Earlier, Egypt's army spokesman said the search for the plane that disappeared from radar monitors while en Route from Paris to Cairo was taking place where the plane reportedly went missing, with the participation of jets from Greece. 
 
 12:50 Families of the EgyptAir crash victims said that they have no information and that the company said they will get in contact with them when they do, an Ahram Online reporter, Lina Wardani, at Cairo International Airport said. The families refused to speak to the press and covered their faces. 
 
 12:40 Egypt's National Security Council, headed by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, decided to continue the search efforts through Egyptian military jets and navy vessels, and to work on uncovering the circumstances behind the plane's disappearance as soon as possible in cooperation with France and Greece. 
 
 The council, attended by several ministers including the civil aviation minister, also decided to mandate the government with offering all means of aid to the families of passengers and crew members, and called on the crisis management centre at EgyptAir to follow up on the developments and announce any new details 
 
 12:20 French President Francois Hollande has announced that they have confirmation that the EgyptAir plane reported missing has been 'crashed and disappeared'. Hollande stressed that no hypothesis should be ruled out, but they are keen on "finding the truth". 
 
 Earlier, France's Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Thursday "no theory can be ruled out" in the missing EgyptAir flight. 
 
 
 
 12:10 According to AP, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault says "nothing is confirmed" regarding the disappearance of the EgyptAir flight and is warning against some unverified information in circulation. 
 
 Ayrault, speaking after meeting with families gathered at a hotel at Charles de Gaulle airport, tells journalists the priority is "solidarity" with them and extended a "message of compassion and support." 
 
 He says French authorities are in direct contact with Greek and Egyptian authorities. 
 
 11:35 Airbus released a statement saying that it "regrets to confirm the loss of an Egypt Air A320, flight ‪#‎MS804 " 
 
 According to Airbus, the plane went missing at around 2:30 am (local Egypt time) over the Mediterranean Sea, with a scheduled service operating from Paris to Cairo. 
 
 It stressed that until now no further factual information is available, adding that it will provide more details as soon as they are confirmed and cleared by authorities for release. 
 
 Airbus expressed its readiness to provide full technical assistance to the French Investigation Agency and to authorities in charge of the investigation. 
 
 The company provided details about the aircraft involved, which was delivered to EgyptAir from the production line in November 2003 and accumulated 48,000 flight hours with IAE engines. 
 
 11:30 According to AP, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault says "nothing is confirmed" regarding the disappearance of the EgyptAir flight and is warning against some unverified information in circulation. 
 
 Ayrault, speaking after meeting with families gathered at a hotel at Charles de Gaulle airport, tells journalists the priority is "solidarity" with them and extended a "message of compassion and support." 
 
 He says French authorities are in direct contact with Greek and Egyptian authorities. 
 
 11.20 Egypt's army said it is taking all the necessary procedures to find the missing plane by dispatching a number of rescue and search jets along with navy vessels specialised in rescue and relief operations. 
 
 A high alert has been imposed in military hospitals and the army is currently in coordination with the cabinet and the foreign and civil aviation ministers to provide the needed support. 
 
 The army spokesman said the search for the disappeared plane is taking place where the plane reportedly went missing, with the participation of jets from Greece. 
 
 Fifty-six passengers including 30 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, one Briton, one Canadian, one Sudanese, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Algerian, one Belgian, one Kuwaiti and one Saudi were on board of the missing plane in addition to 10 crew members. 
 
 11.05 According to Reuters, Greece is deploying military aircraft and a frigate to an area in the southern Mediterranean where an EgyptAir aircraft vanished from radar screens early on Thursday, its defence ministry said. 
 
 Meanwhile, AP reports that the French military says a Falcon surveillance jet monitoring the Mediterranean for migrants has been dispatched to help search for the EgyptAir flight that crashed in the area. 
 
 Military spokesman Col. Gilles Jaron told The Associated Press that the jet is joining the Egypt-led search effort, and the French navy may send another plane and a ship to the zone. 
 
 He said the Falcon was on a surveillance mission as part of EU efforts to monitor migrants crossing the Mediterranean toward Europe. 
 
 10.45 According to AP, the director of Greece's Civil Aviation Authority says air traffic controllers were in contact with the pilot of the EgyptAir flight as it passed through Greek airspace. 
 
 The director, Constantine Lyzerakos, said the plane was at 37,000 feet, traveling at 519 mph, and did not report any problem. 
 
 Lyzerakos told private Antenna television that controllers tried to make contact with the pilot 10 miles before the flight exited the Greek Flight Information Range (FIR), but the pilot did not respond. Lyzerakos says controllers continued trying to contact the pilot until 3:39 a.m. Greek time (1239 GMT) when the plane disappeared from the radar. 
 
 Lyzerakos says the plane was in Cairo's FIR when it vanished. 
 
 10.40 Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault exchanged condolences on the casualties of EgyptAir flight MS804. Meanwhile, there are no confirmations from the Egyptian authorities that the plane has crashed. The two officials stressed that they need to cooperate to understand the reasons behind the crash. 
 
 10.25 There were no weather issues at the time and in the vicinity of the area where an EgyptAir plane with 66 people on board went missing on Thursday morning, European air traffic network manager Eurocontrol told Reuters. 
 
 10.22 France has offered to send planes and boats to the crash area, Jean-Marc Ayrault, the French foreign minister, declared this morning. 
 
 10.20 PM Sherif Ismail told reporters at Egypt's international airport that search for the lost EgyptAir plane is still underway and that the crisis management centre is putting into consideration all scenarios that could have led to the disappearance of the plane including terrorism. 
 
 Ismail said that the armed forces might have received a plane signal not a pilot signal and that they are still looking into the matter. 
 
 Ismail said that a press conference is expected to take place after 1:00pm local time in Cairo to explain the latest updates on the incident. 
 
 Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy told reporters that all officials are closely following the matter and that families of the passengers are present in the airport. 
 
 10.10 According to AFP and AP, the EgyptAir flight which disappeared on route from Paris to Cairo early Thursday crashed into the sea off the southern Greek island of Karpathos while in Egyptian airspace, a Greek aviation source told AFP. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Egyptian aviation ministry says the causes of the disappearance are still unknown and has denied all circulating reports of a crash. 
 
 10.00 A joint crisis management centre between Egypt and France has been created at France’s international Charles De Gaulles airport to be able help families of passengers who on the lost plane. 
 
 9.50 EgyptAir said the reasons behind the sudden disappearance of EgyptAir flight MS804 from Paris to Cairo are still unknown. In their seventh statement since the disappearance of the aircraft, EgyptAir asks all media outlets to be cautious and to stick to their issued press releases. 
 
 9.40 Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is currently holding an urgent meeting with the National Security Council to follow the latest updates and news on the lost EgyptAir flight. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters from the EgyptAir crisis center that the search is still underway and that there is still no confirmations on the missing plane. 
 
 9.35 According to AFP, France's Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said that "no theory can be ruled out" as to why the EgyptAir flight went missing. 
 
 09:20 According to the armed forces, no distress signal was in fact received from the plane. A brief note posted a few moments ago by the army's official spokesman, Mohamed Samir, on Facebook said that the armed forces "had not received any SOS signal" from the lost plane. 
 
 09:15 French President Francois Hollande called Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to follow developments, AFP reports. The French president is due to hold a crisis meeting with senior officials later. 
 
 Meanwhile, Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail has arrived at EgyptAir's crisis centre, the airline reported, where he will follow the situation in person. 
 
 09:10 From an EgyptAir statement: An EgyptAir official said that the Egyptian army's rescue and search had received a distress call from the plane at 4:26 Cairo local time. 
 
 The implications of this are still unclear. 
 
 09:00 There are unofficial reports that the plane may indeed have crashed. AP quotes "Egyptian aviation officials" as saying that "the possibility that the plane crashed has been confirmed." The search is currently underway for the debris, the officials said, requesting anonymity as they were not cleared to speak to the press. 
 
 08:00 The Egyptian army has dispatched jet fighters to search for the missing flight, an army spokesman statement read. 
 
 The army is coordinating the search with Greece and Egyptian and Greek naval vessels have been dispatched to hunt for the plane, amid fears it may have crashed in the Mediterranean. 
 
 07:45 EgyptAir said the 56 passengers including 3 children on board include 30 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, one Briton, one Canadian, one Sudanese, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Algerian, one Belgian, one Kuwaiti and one Saudi. Ten staff members were also on board, three of them were security personnel. 
 
 -- 
 
 An EgyptAir flight vanished early this morning en route from Paris to Cairo. Radar signals from flight MS804 were lost at 2:30am Cairo time, EgyptAir have said, around the time the flight entered Egyptian airspace over the Mediterranean. 
 
 The commercial flight left Paris at 11:09pm GMT and was due to land at Cairo airport at 03:15am local time. 
 
 Sources told Al-Ahram Arabic website that air traffic controllers in Athens had failed to establish communication with the pilot after the plane went off the radar. 
 
 Fifty-six passengers and 10 crew members are on board. 
 
 Authorities say they lost contact with the plane as it was cruising at an altitude of 37,000 feet at 2:45am Cairo local time. 
 
 Rescue teams and the Egyptian armed forces have been searching the area where the plane was last spotted on the radar. 
 
 The company identified the plane as an Airbus 320 manufactured in 2003. 
 
 The pilot, who was identified by sources as Captain Mohamed Shokeir, has over 6,000 flight hours while the copilot has over 2,000 hours of flight. 
 
 Short link: ||||| CLOSE Skip in Skip x Embed x Share Despite early reports to the contrary, an EgyptAir official now says debris from flight MS804 has not yet been found. USA TODAY 
 
 A relative of the victims of the EgyptAir flight 804 wipes her tears as she is comforted at Charles de Gaulle Airport outside of Paris on May 19, 2016. (Photo: Michel Euler, AP) 
 
 Debris found Thursday in the Mediterranean Sea was not from an EgyptAir flight that vanished from radar en route from Paris to Cairo early Thursday, an airline official said. 
 
 Ahmed Adel, EgyptAir vice chairman, told CNN Thursday that a statement he made earlier to the network was not accurate. 
 
 "We stand corrected on finding the wreckage because what we identified is not a part of our plane," Adel told the news organization. "So the search and rescue is still going on." 
 
 Adel's statement added to the mounting questions as to what happened to the Airbus 320 that was carrying 56 passengers and 10 crew members, and turned global attention back to the prospect of potential terrorism. 
 
 Earlier, Greek officials disputed Egypt's claim that Greek authorities found floating wreckage, including two life vests, from an EgyptAir flight carrying 66 people that crashed into the Mediterranean early Thursday en route from Paris to Cairo. 
 
 EgyptAir said the Egyptian foreign ministry confirmed in a letter to the Cairo government that Greek searchers found the debris near the Greek island of Karpathos. But within an hour of that report, Athanassios Binis, head of Greece’s Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board, told state ERT TV that “an assessment of the finds showed that they do not belong to an aircraft.” 
 
 Binis said the determination was confirmed by Egyptian authorities, according to the Associated Press. There was no immediate response or clarification from EgyptAir. 
 
 Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said the Airbus A320 made two sharp turns then suddenly lost altitude before vanishing from radar 174 miles off the Egyptian coast. “It turned 90 degrees left and then a 360-degree turn toward the right, dropping from 38,000 to 15,000 feet and then it was lost at about 10,000 feet,” he said. 
 
 Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi said the possibility of a terror attack as the cause of the crash of flight MS804 is "higher than that of a technical error,” Egypt's state-run newspaper Al-Ahram reported. 
 
 Adding to Thursday's confusion, unnamed officials told Reuters that the United States saw no signs of an explosion as it reviewed imagery. 
 
 French President François Hollande earlier confirmed the disappearance of the airliner but said it was too early to determine the cause of the crash. 
 
 The plane vanished shortly after entering Egyptian airspace. Greek civil aviation authorities said all appeared fine with the flight until air traffic controllers were preparing to hand it over to their Egyptian counterparts. The pilot did not respond to their calls, and the aircraft then disappeared from radar. 
 
 CLOSE Skip in Skip x Embed x Share Egypt's aviation minister said on Thursday that a 'terror attack' was a more probable explanation for the disappearance of the EgyptAir flight than technical failure.Video provided by AFP Newslook 
 
 About 40 minutes before contact with the plane was lost, Greek air traffic controllers said the pilot was in good spirits and reported no problems as he flew over the Greek island of Kea, according to a statement by the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority. 
 
 Al-Ahram identified the pilot as Captain Mohamed Shokeir. The airline said he had 6,275 hours of flying experience, including 2,101 hours on the A320 aircraft used in the flight. 
 
 The French military said a Falcon surveillance jet monitoring the Mediterranean for migrants was diverted to help in the Egypt-led search effort for the airliner. Greece's defense ministry also mobilized a search-and-rescue operation. U.S. Commander Sixth Fleet is working to provide U.S. Navy P-3 Orion support, according to the U.S. Navy. 
 
 In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Obama received "multiple updates" on the missing plane from his homeland security and counterterrorism team and asked to be kept apprised of developments. 
 
 Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump weighed in on the crash, calling it "yet another terrorist attack." In a Twitter post Thursday, Trump pointed to the incident, asking "when will we get tough, smart and vigilant? Great hate and sickness!" 
 
 FBI Director James Comey told reporters during a visit to the Chicago field office that U.S. officials don't have any evidence at this point that confirms the plane was brought down in a terrorist attack. "We don't know exactly what this is yet," Comey said. 
 
 At Charles De Gaulle's Terminal 1, Paula Alina checked boarding passes Thursday afternoon, including those for EgyptAir flight MS800 bound for Cairo. Since the Paris terrorist attacks last year, Alina said, she has seen many people boarding flights in tears because they're afraid of a terror attack onboard. 
 
 "It is heartbreaking," she said. "I can barely speak. I feel tired and confused." As for those boarding the next plane to Cairo, Alina said, "I feel afraid for them." 
 
 But she said the ground staff puts on a brave face. "I don't speak to them otherwise I would show them that we are worried for them," Alina said. 
 
 In Cairo, Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, the country’s highest security body. The council includes the prime minister and the defense, foreign and interior ministers, in addition to the chiefs of the intelligence agencies. 
 
 El-Sissi and Hollande spoke on the phone and agreed to “closely cooperate to establish as soon as possible the circumstances” surrounding the incident, according to a statement issued in Paris. 
 
 Sherif Ismail, Egypt's prime minister, told reporters at Cairo airport that it was also too early to draw any conclusions about what caused the plane's disappearance. “We cannot rule anything out,” he said. He also said there was no "distress call." 
 
 Aircraft manufacturer Airbus said in a statement that it "regrets to confirm the loss of an Egyptair A320, flight ‪#‎MS804‬." Airbus said EgyptAir took delivery of the plane in November 2003 and that it had accumulated approximately 48,000 flight hours. 
 
 Details on passengers emerge 
 
 EgyptAir said the passengers included: 
 
 • 30 Egyptians 
 
 • 15 French 
 
 • 2 Iraqis 
 
 • One each from Sudan, Chad, Portugal, Algeria, Canada, Great Britain, Belgium, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. 
 
 No Americans were reported to be aboard the plane. 
 
 One of the victims was Egyptian-born Ahmed Helal, a plant manager at Procter & Gamble's Amiens, France, manufacturing facility, the company said. Helal spent two years in Cincinnati from 2012 to 2014 as an associate operations director for single dose unit detergents as P&G first launched Tide Pods, according to his LinkedIn profile. 
 
 Relatives of passengers aboard the missing flight arrived at Cairo airport and at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, where crisis centers were set up. The Associated Press reported that a man and a woman, identified by airport staff as relatives of the flight’s passengers, sat at an information desk near the EgyptAir counter at Charles De Gaulle. The woman sobbed, holding her face in a handkerchief. 
 
 In Cairo, family members of passengers and crew sat in the modest restaurant at the Le Passage hotel just beside Cairo Airport. Paramedics and doctors were on standby in an adjacent alcove ready to assist grief-stricken survivors. 
 
 "Only God knows what happened to them," said Mohammed Diab, an uncle of one of the air marshals on the ill-fated jet. 
 
 "All they have told us is the plane is missing," said the tearful 72-year-old, even as Egyptian TV broadcasted video of wreckage thought to be from the downed plane floating in the Mediterranean. "He had been working for EgyptAir for five years and he loved his job," Diab said of his 25-year-old nephew. 
 
 EgyptAir operates from a hub at Cairo International Airport and is based in Heliopolis, Egypt. It offers passenger and freight services to more than 75 destinations. 
 
 In March, EgyptAir Flight 181 en route to Cyprus was hijacked by a passenger claiming to be wearing a suicide belt. The hijacker surrendered at Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus and all passengers were released safely. No one was hurt in the incident, which Cypriot authorities said was not terrorism related. 
 
 A Russian passenger plane crashed in Egypt's Sinai peninsula in October, killing all 224 people on board. Moscow said it was brought down by an explosive device, and a local branch of the Islamic State claimed responsibility. 
 
 Contributing: Jacob Wirtschafter in Cairo; Nikolia Apostolu from Lesbos, Greece; Maya Vidon in Paris; Melanie Eversley, Gregory Korte in Washington. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/27Ct7fy ||||| Relatives of passengers on a vanished EgyptAir flight leave the in-flight service building where they were held at Cairo International Airport, Egypt, Thursday, May 19, 2016. Egyptian aviation officials... (Associated Press) 
 
 CAIRO (AP) — An EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board crashed in the Mediterranean Sea early Thursday morning off the Greek island of Crete, Egyptian and Greek officials said. 
 
 Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said it was too early to say whether a technical problem or a terror attack caused the plane to crash. "We cannot rule anything out," he told reporters at Cairo airport. 
 
 EgyptAir Flight 804 was lost from radar at around 2:45 a.m. local time when it was flying at 37,000 feet, according to the airline. It said the Airbus A320 vanished 10 miles (16 kilometers) after it entered Egyptian airspace, around 280 kilometers (175 miles) off Egypt's coastline north of the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Egyptian aviation officials said the plane crashed and that a search for debris was now underway. 
 
 The "possibility that the plane crashed has been confirmed," as the plane hasn't landed in any of the nearby airports, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. 
 
 Konstantinos Lintzerakos , director of Greece Civil Aviation Authority, gave a roughly similar account to that given by EgyptAir. In comments to the private Antenna television, he said Greek air traffic controllers were in contact with the pilot who reported no problems as the aircraft cruised at 37,000 feet, traveling at 519 mph (830 kilometers per hour). 
 
 The controllers tried to make contact with the pilot 10 miles (16 kilometers) before the plane exited the Greek Flight Information Region, or FIR. The pilot did not respond, he said, and they continued to try to speak to him until 3:29 a.m. local time (2:29 a.m. Egyptian time) when the plane disappeared from the radar inside Egypt's FIR, 11 kilometers (7 miles) southeast of the island of Crete. 
 
 Egyptian military aircraft and navy ships were taking part in a search operation off Egypt's Mediterranean coast to locate the debris of the plane, which was carrying 56 passengers, including one child and two babies, and 10 crew members. The pilot had more than 6,000 flight hours. 
 
 Greece also joined the search and rescue operation with two aircraft, officials at the Hellenic National Defense General Staff said. They said that helicopters were on standby on the southern island of Karpathos for potential rescue or recovery operations. 
 
 French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault offered to send military planes and boats to join the Egyptian search for wreckage. 
 
 "We are at the disposition of the Egyptian authorities with our military capacities, with our planes, our boats to help in the search for this plane," he said. He spoke after French President Francois Hollande held an emergency meeting at the Elysee Palace. 
 
 Hollande spoke with Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on the phone and agreed to "closely cooperate to establish as soon as possible the circumstances" surrounding the incident, according to a statement issued in Paris. 
 
 In Cairo, el-Sissi convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, the country's highest security body. The council includes the prime minister and the defense, foreign and interior ministers in addition to the chiefs of the intelligence agencies. 
 
 Those on board, according to EgyptAir, included 15 French passengers, 30 Egyptians, two Iraqis, one Briton, one Kuwaiti, one Saudi, one Sudanese, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Belgian, one Algerian and one Canadian. Ayrault confirmed that 15 French citizens were on board. 
 
 Egypt's state-run newspaper Al-Ahram quoted an airport official as saying the pilot did not send a distress call, and that last contact with the plane was made 10 minutes before it disappeared from radar. It did not identify the official. 
 
 Airbus is aware of the disappearance, but "we have no official information at this stage of the certitude of an accident," the company's spokesman Jacques Rocca said. 
 
 The Paris airport authority and the French civil aviation authority would not immediately comment. 
 
 Queries about the missing plane sent out to the U.S. Federal Aviation Agency were not returned early Thursday. 
 
 Around 15 relatives of passengers on board the missing flight have arrived at Cairo airport. Airport authorities brought doctors to the scene after several distressed family members collapsed. 
 
 In Paris, relatives of passengers on the EgyptAir flight started arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport outside the French capital, where their loved ones were last seen alive. 
 
 A man and a woman, identified by airport staff as relatives of the flight's passengers, sat at an information desk near the EgyptAir counter Thursday at Charles de Gaulle Airport's Terminal 1. The woman was sobbing, holding her face in a handkerchief. They pair were led away by police and airport staff and did not speak to gathered journalists. 
 
 The Airbus A320 is a widely used twin-engine, single-aisle plane that operates on short and medium-haul routes. Nearly 4,000 A320s are currently in use around the world. The ubiquity of the A320 means the plane has been involved in several accidents over the years. The last deadly crash involving the plane was Germanwings Flight 9525, in which all 150 onboard died when one of the pilots intentionally crashed it in the French Alps. 
 
 An EgyptAir plane was hijacked and diverted to Cyprus in March. A man who admitted to the hijacking and is described by Cypriot authorities as "psychologically unstable" is in custody in Cyprus. 
 
 The incident renewed security concerns at Egyptian airports after a Russian passenger plane crashed in Sinai last October, killing all 224 people on board. Moscow said it was brought down by an explosive device, and a local branch of the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for planting it. 
 
 In 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, killing all 217 people aboard, U.S. investigators filed a final report that concluded its co-pilot switched off the autopilot and pointed the Boeing 767 downward. But Egyptian officials rejected the notion of suicide altogether, insisting some mechanical reason caused the crash. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press reporters Derek Gatopoulos in Athens and Raphael Satter, Sylvie Corbet and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report. ||||| In this Thursday, May 19, 2016 video image released by the Egyptian Defense Ministry, an Egyptian plane searches in the Mediterranean Sea for the missing EgyptAir flight 804 plane which crashed after... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Thursday, May 19, 2016 video image released by the Egyptian Defense Ministry, an Egyptian plane searches in the Mediterranean Sea for the missing EgyptAir flight 804 plane which crashed after disappearing from the radar early Thursday morning while carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris... (Associated Press) 
 
 CAIRO (AP) — The Latest on the disappearance of EgyptAir Flight 804 (all times local): 
 
 1:15 p.m. 
 
 Greece's defense minister says Greek authorities have received notification that Egyptian authorities had spotted a body part, two seats and suitcases during their search in the Mediterranean Sea for the crashed EgyptAir Flight 804. 
 
 Minister Panos Kammenos says Friday that the items were found in the search area slightly to the south of where the aircraft had vanished from radar signals early Thursday. 
 
 He said the location was slightly north of where some debris had been found on Thursday afternoon but authorities had been unable to identify that as having come from the missing aircraft. 
 
 The Airbus A320 was carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared. 
 
 11:35 p.m. 
 
 The Egyptian presidency has expressed its "deep sadness and extreme regret" over the deaths of the 66 passengers and crew members aboard EgyptAir Flight 804. 
 
 The Friday statement is the first official recognition of the tragic crash of the missing plane. It came minutes after the Egyptian army announced for the first time that it located plane debris and passengers' personal belongings some 190 miles (306 kilometers) north of the city of Alexandria in the Mediterranean Sea. 
 
 The Airbus A320 plane was flying from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared early Thursday over the sea. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11:15 a.m. 
 
 Egyptian airport officials say that investigators will inspect the plane debris and personal belongings that the Egyptian army says it found 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of the city of Alexandria. 
 
 The officials said Friday that the chief Egyptian investigator Ayman el-Mokadam will be joined by French and British investigators as well as an expert from Airbus. 
 
 The Airbus 320 plane operated by EgyptAir was carrying 66 people from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared off radar at around 2.45 a.m. local time in Egypt. 
 
 The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11:00 a.m. 
 
 The Egyptian army says it has found wreckage of the missing EgyptAir flight 804, which crashed after disappearing from the radar while carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo. 
 
 The Egyptian army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Samir, says in a statement posted on his Facebook page Friday that Egyptian jets and naval vessels participating in the search for the missing plane have found "personal belongings of the passengers and parts of the plane debris," 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of the city of Alexandria. 
 
 The Airbus 320 lost contact at 2.45 a.m. local time Thursday morning. 
 
 ___ 
 
 10:15 a.m. 
 
 Egyptian airport officials say that three French and three British investigators and an Airbus technical expert have arrived in Cairo to join the investigation into what caused EgyptAir flight 804 to crash while carrying 66 people bound for Cairo from Paris. 
 
 Authorities are continuing to search a wide area to the south of the Greek island of Crete Friday. The plane dropped off the radar while crossing the Mediterranean at around 2.45 a.m. local time Thursday morning. 
 
 The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. 
 
 ___ 
 
 8:45 a.m. 
 
 France's foreign minister and a top transport official say there is still no sign of what brought down a Paris-Cairo EgyptAir flight in the Mediterranean. 
 
 Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Friday on France-2 television there is "absolutely no indication" of the cause. 
 
 The junior minister for transport, Alain Vidalies, said on France-Info radio that "no theory is favored" at this stage and urged "the greatest caution." 
 
 A French military Falcon jet is helping in the search for debris. Vidalies said France could offer undersea search equipment and experts. 
 
 Amid fears it was an extremist attack, Vidalies defended security at Charles de Gaulle Airport, saying staff badges are revoked if there is the slightest security doubt. 
 
 ___ 
 
 8:15 a.m. 
 
 The search is continuing for missing EgyptAir flight 804, which disappeared from the radar while carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo. 
 
 Authorities are scouring a wide area south of the Greek island of Crete on Friday to search for wreckage, over 24 hours after the Airbus 320 lost contact. 
 
 The Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos says that the plane swerved wildly before plummeting into the sea. 
 
 The Egyptian military says that no distress call was received from the pilot. The country's aviation minister Sherif Fathi says the likelihood the plane was brought down by a terror attack is "higher than the possibility of a technical failure." 
 
 The distressed relatives of those on board have spent the night in a hotel in Cairo while they await news. ||||| Egypt’s civil aviation ministry confirms it will launch criminal investigation into May crash of flight MS804 that killed 66 
 
 Egyptian air accident investigators have revealed that traces of explosives were detected on the remains of victims of the EgyptAir flight from Paris that crashed in the Mediterranean sea in May. 
 
 The claim by Egypt’s civil aviation investigation committee suggests that the crash, which killed all 66 people on board, was caused by a bomb, although it does not solve the mystery of where a device might have been smuggled on board - or who was responsible. 
 
 The disappearance of the EgyptAir flight came only months after a Russian airliner flying from Sharm el-Sheikh was brought down by a bomb over the Sinai Peninsula – killing 224 people. That attack was claimed by the local affiliate of Islamic State. 
 
 “The central directorate of aircraft accident investigation received reports from the forensic medicine authority indicating traces of explosive materials found in some of the remains of the victims’ bodies,” the ministry stated on Thursday. 
 
 The months-long investigation into the disaster has been hampered by disagreements between French and Egyptian experts and a dispute over the return of the bodies of French passengers. The Airbus A320 had been carrying 40 Egyptians, 15 French people, two Iraqis, two Canadians and one passenger each from Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Chad, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. 
 
 An Egyptian source familiar with the matter said Cairo had informed France months ago of its findings but French investigators had requested more time to study them. 
 
 
 
 “That is why it took so long to make an announcement,” the source said, declining to be named as the investigation is continuing. Following the announcement on Thursday, Egypt said it would be launching a criminal investigation into the crash. 
 
 
 
 France’s air safety agency, BEA, and the plane manufacturer, Airbus, both declined to comment on the announcement, which comes while Cairo is still investigating the October 2015 crash of the Russian passenger plane in Sinai. 
 
 If a bomb is established as the cause of the May crash, investigators will have to determine whether a device could have been smuggled onboard a flight taking off from France’s busiest airport, Paris Charles de Gaulle. The plane had also visited Tunisia and Eritrea in the days before it went down. 
 
 Coming just months after the Russian plane crashed, the EgyptAir disaster led to widespread flight cancellations and dealt a major blow to Egypt’s vital tourism sector, already weakened by years of unrest unleashed by the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. 
 
 In recent months Egypt has spent millions of dollars trying to restore international confidence in its airport security measures. Russia suspended all flights to the country after the October crash, while Britain cancelled flights to Sharm El-Sheikh, the Red Sea resort from which the airliner took off. 
 
 The EgyptAir plane had been flying from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean. Investigators determined that a fire had broken out in or near the cockpit before it crashed between Crete and the coast of northern Egypt. 
 
 
 
 The word “fire” was audible on the plane’s cockpit voice recorder shortly before it crashed, the Egyptian investigative committee said in July. 
 
 The black box, retrieved from the crash site by a specialist diving vessel, also confirmed that smoke alarms had been triggered onboard, while recovered wreckage had indications of soot. 
 
 The Airbus A320 had broadcast a number of fault messages before contact was lost, indicating that smoke had entered the nose of the aircraft where sensitive avionics control systems are housed. Flight data, however, suggested that rather than exploding in mid-air, the plane had flown into the sea. 
 
 Egyptian investigators have confirmed the aircraft made a 90-degree left turn followed by a 360-degree turn to the right before hitting the sea. 
 
 Since the crash, small pieces of the wreckage and human remains have been recovered, while the bulk of the plane and the bodies of victims are believed to be in the water. 
 
 In September, French investigators were reported to have found trace levels of the explosive TNT on recovered debris but claimed they were prevented from further examining it. Egyptian officials denied the claim. 
 
 While some speculation had originally focused on the crew being overcome in the cockpit as the cause of the disaster, the new evidence has put the emphasis back on a deliberate explosion. 
 
 Egypt’s aviation minister, Sherif Fathy, had said previously a terrorist attack was the most likely cause of the crash. The chances of an attack were “higher than the possibility of a technical [failure]”, Fathy said in May following the crash. 
 
 However, two anonymous western sources briefed on the latest turn in the investigation expressed reservations to Reuters about the explosives findings and suggested a technical problem remained a likely cause. Aviation experts have said there is little chance that a mechanical fault was responsible. 
 
 The latest announcement came as it was disclosed that the families of five French victims had launched a petition to recover the remains of those lost on the flight, saying it had been seven months since they had been killed. The Egyptian authorities had promised to return the bodies weeks ago but the process had inexplicably halted, perhaps because of the discovery of the explosive residue. 
 
 Isis has carried out several attacks in recent years, mainly in Sinai, where it is based, but also on the Egyptian mainland. The group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Cairo church on Sunday, which killed at least 24 people – mainly women – and wounded nearly 50. ||||| PARIS/CAIRO (Reuters) - The EgyptAir jet which crashed in the Mediterranean on Thursday sent a series of warnings indicating that smoke had been detected on board, shortly before it disappeared off radar screens, French investigators said on Saturday. 
 
 A spokesman for France’s BEA air accident investigation agency said the signals did not indicate what caused the smoke or fire on board the plane, which plunged into the sea with 66 people on board as it was heading from Paris to Cairo. 
 
 But they offered the first clues as to what unfolded in the moments before the crash. 
 
 One aviation source said that a fire on board would likely have generated multiple warning signals, while a sudden explosion may not have generated any - though officials stress that no scenario, including explosion, is being ruled out. 
 
 Egypt said its navy had found human remains, wreckage and the personal belongings of passengers floating in the Mediterranean about 290 km (180 miles) north of Alexandria. 
 
 The army published pictures on Saturday on its official Facebook page of the recovered items, which included blue and white debris with EgyptAir markings, seat fabric with designs in the airline’s colors, and a yellow lifejacket. 
 
 Analysis of the debris and recovery of the plane’s twin flight recorders are likely to be key to determining the cause of the crash - the third blow since October to Egypt’s travel industry, still reeling from political unrest following the 2011 uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak. 
 
 A suspected Islamic State bombing brought down a Russian airliner after it took off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport in late October, killing all 224 people on board, and an EgyptAir plane was hijacked in March by a man wearing a fake suicide belt. 
 
 A message purporting to come from Islamic State urged attacks on the United States and Europe in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan beginning in early June. “Ramadan, the month of conquest. Get prepared...so that you make it a month of calamity on the non-believers anywhere,” said the message posted on Twitter accounts that usually publish Islamic State statements. 
 
 It made no claim of responsibility for the Egyptair crash. 
 
 The October crash devastated Egyptian tourism, a main source of foreign exchange for a country of 80 million people, and another similar incident would crush hopes of it recovering. 
 
 Egypt’s tourism revenue in the first three months of the year plunged by two thirds to $500 million from a year earlier. 
 
 HUNT FOR BLACK BOXES 
 
 The signals from the plane “do not allow in any way to say what may have caused smoke or fire on board the aircraft”, said a spokesman for the French BEA agency, which is assisting an official Egyptian investigation. 
 
 He added that the priority now was to find the two flight recorders, known as black boxes, containing cockpit voice recordings and data readings, from the Airbus A320 which vanished from radar early on Thursday. 
 
 Recovered debris of the EgyptAir jet that crashed in the Mediterranean Sea is seen in this handout image released May 21, 2016 by Egypt's military. Egyptian Military/Handout via Reuters 
 
 the head of the Egyptian investigation team was quoted by Egypt’s state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper as saying a preliminary report into the crash would be presented in a month. 
 
 Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi told reporters an additional challenge in the hunt for the black boxes was the depth of the Mediterranean in the area under search. “What I understand is that it is 3,000 (meters),” he said. 
 
 That would place the black box locator beacons, which last for 30 days, on the edge of their detectable range from the surface based on the type of acoustic equipment typically used during the first stages of a search, according to a report into the 2009 crash of an Air France jet in the Atlantic. 
 
 “No important devices from the plane have been retrieved so far,” Fathi said. 
 
 The flight data transmitted before the crash was sent through an automatic system called the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), which routinely downloads maintenance and fault data to the airline operator. 
 
 Aviation Herald, a respected Austria-based website specializing in air accidents, first published a burst of seven messages broadcast over the space of three minutes. These included alarms about smoke in the lavatory as well as the aircraft’s avionics area, which sits under the cockpit. 
 
 While suggesting a possible fire, the relatively short sequence of data gives no insight into pilot efforts to control the aircraft, nor does it show whether it fell in one piece or disintegrated in mid-air, two aviation safety experts said. 
 
 The data fragments also included alarms related to cockpit window heating and two flight control computers, both of which have backups. 
 
 “The question now is whether the fire that caused the smoke was the result of an electrical fault - for example a short-circuit caused by damaged wiring - or whether some form of explosive or incendiary device was used - for example by a terrorist - to generate a fire or other damage,” aviation safety expert David Learmont said. 
 
 The ACARS data suggested the fire had spread quickly and “that might explain the fact that there was no distress call”, Learmont wrote in a blog. 
 
 “ALL SCENARIOS” POSSIBLE 
 
 The aircraft was carrying 56 passengers, including a child and two infants, and 10 crew. They included 30 Egyptian and 15 French nationals, along with citizens of 10 other countries. 
 
 Egyptair said officials met family members and told them the process of gathering body parts and information would take time, while DNA testing to identify victims would require weeks. 
 
 French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who met relatives of crash victims in Paris on Saturday, said there were several possible causes. “At this very moment all scenarios are being examined and none is being given greater emphasis,” he said. 
 
 France sent a plane and navy ship to help the search, centered on an area just south of where the signal from the plane was lost early on Thursday. 
 
 Slideshow (17 Images) 
 
 EgyptAir Chairman Safwat Moslem said the radius of the search zone was 40 nautical miles, but could be expanded. The radius is equivalent to an area of 5,000 square miles (17,000 square km), the same expanse covered in the initial hunt for the Air France jet in 2009. 
 
 The large area reflects the fact that neither jet could be accounted for in the last few minutes of flying time. 
 
 A European satellite spotted a 2 km-long oil slick in the Mediterranean, about 40 km (20 nautical miles) southeast of the aircraft’s last known position, the European Space Agency said. ||||| In this Dec. 10, 2014 image an EgyptAir Airbus A320 with the registration SU-GCC on the tarmac at Cairo airport. Egyptian aviation officials said on Thursday May 19, 2016 that an EgyptAir flight MS804... (Associated Press) 
 
 CAIRO (AP) — The latest news on EgyptAir Flight 804 from Paris to Cairo, carrying 66 people, which disappeared early Thursday. (All times are Egyptian.) 
 
 1:05 p.m. 
 
 Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos says the EgyptAir flight made abrupt turns, suddenly lost altitude just before vanishing from radar shortly after entering Cairo's air traffic control area of responsibility. 
 
 Kammenos said the aircraft was 10-15 miles inside the Egyptian area and at an altitude of 37,000 feet. He says: "It turned 90 degrees left and then a 360- degree turn toward the right, dropping from 38,000 to 15,000 feet and then it was lost at about 10,000 feet," he said. 
 
 Greek civil aviation authorities say all appeared fine with the flight until the time when air traffic controllers were to hand it over to their Egyptian counterparts. The pilot did not respond to their calls, and the aircraft then vanished from radars. Kammenos' comments are the first indication of what might have happened after the aircraft entered Cairo's air traffic control space. 
 
 ___ 
 
 1:00 p.m. 
 
 Passengers are preparing to board an EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo, hours after an earlier EgyptAir flight on the same route disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea. 
 
 Salama Kordeya, a 66-year-old business traveler, shrugged off journalists asking him whether he was comfortable stepping on to the flight. 
 
 He tells journalists: "Thousands of car accidents ... and we use cars. I'm not afraid." 
 
 Authorities have set up a special crisis center at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport for families of passengers of the missing plane. 
 
 ___ 
 
 12:50 p.m. 
 
 Greece's Civil Aviation Authority says traffic controllers' last communication with the EgyptAir pilot found him in good spirits. Greek air traffic controllers lost contact as the flight headed into the Egyptian area of responsibility. 
 
 The Civil Aviation Authority says the flight entered the Greek air traffic control area, or FIR, at 02:24 Greek time (2324 GMT), was identified and approved on its flight course and passed into the next section of air traffic control and was approved by the controller for the exit point of the Greek FIR. 
 
 Air traffic controllers tried to contact the pilot again at 03:27 local time for the handover of the plane to Cairo's area of responsibility, but "despite repeated calls, the aircraft did not respond." 
 
 Air traffic control then called on the emergency frequency and again there was no response. At 03:29, the aircraft was over the exit point of the Athens FIR, and at 03:29.40 it vanished from radar. The Greek authority said the military was asked for help in case the plane could be located on a military radar, but there was no sign of it. Search and rescue operations began at 03:45. 
 
 ___ 
 
 12:35 p.m. 
 
 French President Francois Hollande has confirmed the crash of the EgyptAir flight, and says no hypothesis is ruled out or preferred, including an accident or a terrorist act. 
 
 Hollande says: "When we have the truth we need to draw all the conclusions." 
 
 Speaking at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Hollande adds: "At this stage, we must give priority to solidarity toward the families" of the victims. 
 
 ___ 
 
 12:30 p.m. 
 
 The Paris prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into the disappearance of the EgyptAir flight. 
 
 The prosecutor said in a statement Thursdya that its collective accident department opened the investigation with the national gendarme service. 
 
 It said "no hypothesis is favored or ruled out at this stage." 
 
 ___ 
 
 11:55 a.m. 
 
 French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault says "nothing is confirmed" regarding the disappearance of the EgyptAir flight and is warning against some unverified information in circulation. 
 
 Ayrault, speaking after meeting with families gathered at a hotel at Charles de Gaulle airport, tells journalists the priority is "solidarity" with them and extended a "message of compassion and support." 
 
 He says French authorities are in direct contact with Greek and Egyptian authorities. 
 
 ___ 
 
 10:45 
 
 The French military says a Falcon surveillance jet monitoring the Mediterranean for migrants has been diverted to help search for an EgyptAir flight that crashed in the area. 
 
 Military spokesman Col. Gilles Jaron told The Associated Press that the jet is joining the Egypt-led search effort, and the French navy may send another plane and a ship to the zone. 
 
 He said the Falcon was on a surveillance mission as part of EU efforts to monitor migrants crossing the Mediterranean toward Europe. 
 
 The French government has offered military help to find the plane, en route from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared. 
 
 ___ 
 
 10:35 a.m. 
 
 Airbus says the missing Egyptian plane flight was delivered to EgyptAir in 2003 and had logged 48,000 flight hours. 
 
 The European plane-maker said in a statement Thursday that the plane had engines made by Swiss-based engine consortium IAE, and had the serial number 2088. 
 
 Airbus said it is ready to help authorities investigating the disappearance and said "our concerns go out to all those affected." 
 
 ___ 
 
 10:30 a.m. 
 
 The director of Greece's Civil Aviation Authority says air traffic controllers were in contact with the pilot of the EgyptAir flight as it passed through Greek airspace. 
 
 The director, Konstantinos Lintzerakos, said the plane was at 37,000 feet, traveling at 519 mph, and did not report any problem. 
 
 Lyzerakos told private Antenna television that controllers tried to make contact with the pilot 10 miles before the flight exited the Greek Flight Information Range (FIR), but the pilot did not respond. Lyzerakos says controllers continued trying to contact the pilot until 3:39 a.m. Greek time (1239 GMT) when the plane disappeared from the radar. 
 
 Lyzerakos says the plane was in Cairo's FIR when it vanished. 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:38 a.m. 
 
 France's transport chief says there were three Egyptian security officers on the EgyptAir flight that disappeared after leaving Paris for Cairo. 
 
 Alain Vidalies told reporters Thursday after an emergency government meeting that the plane had seven crew members and three Egyptian security officers, "which is the usual practice." 
 
 He said the plane was not carrying freight. 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:35 a.m. 
 
 Egypt's state news agency quotes Prime Minister Sherif Ismail as saying he can't "rule out" any possibility when asked whether a terrorist attack is behind the missing plane. He said there was no "distress call" but there was a "signal" received from the plane. 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:30 a.m. 
 
 The spokesman of the Egyptian army, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Samir, says in a statement posted on the army's official Facebook page that the army has not received any distress call from the missing plane. 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:20 a.m. 
 
 France is offering to send military planes and boats to help search for an EgyptAir flight that disappeared en route from Paris to Cairo. 
 
 French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault says the government is in constant contact with Egyptian authorities since the plane's disappearance early Thursday. 
 
 He said: "We are at the disposition of the Egyptian authorities with our military capacities, with our planes, our boats to help in the search for this plane." 
 
 He spoke after French President Francois Hollande held an emergency meeting at the Elysee Palace. 
 
 Ayrault confirmed 15 French people were on the flight. "We imagine the anguish of the families." 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:10 a.m. 
 
 Relatives of passengers on a vanished EgyptAir flight have started arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport outside Paris, where their loved ones boarded the aircraft. 
 
 A man and a woman, identified by airport staff as relatives of the flight's passengers, sat at an information desk near the EgyptAir counter Thursday at the airport's Terminal 1. The woman was sobbing, holding her face in a handkerchief. 
 
 The two were led away by police and airport staff and did not speak to journalists. 
 
 The French government is setting up a crisis center for relatives at the airport. 
 
 ___ 
 
 8:30 a.m. 
 
 Egyptian aviation officials say an EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board has crashed. 
 
 The officials say the search is now underway for the debris. They say the "possibility that the plane crashed has been confirmed," as the plane hasn't landed in any of the nearby airports. 
 
 The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. 
 
 ___ 
 
 8:05 a.m. 
 
 French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says France is ready to join the search operation if Egyptian authorities request it. 
 
 Speaking on RTL radio, Valls says the Paris airport authority has opened a crisis center to support the families coming to Charles de Gaulle Airport. 
 
 __ 
 
 7:55 a.m. 
 
 The French government says President Francois Hollande spoke with Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi by telephone, and they agreed to "closely cooperate to establish the circumstances" in which the EgyptAir flight disappeared. 
 
 The government statement cited Hollande as saying he shares the anxiety of families, in a written statement. 
 
 ___ 
 
 7:50 a.m. 
 
 EgyptAir says passengers on Flight 804 included 30 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, and one each from Algeria, Britain, Belgium, Canada, Chad, Kuwait, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. 
 
 ___ 
 
 7:25 a.m. 
 
 Reporters gathered in front of the small, empty EgyptAir counter at Terminal 1 of Charles de Gaulle Airport. Airport staff said EgyptAir staff were on their way. 
 
 Neither France's Foreign Ministry nor Interior Ministry would comment on the disappearance of the jet or on whether it could have been an attack. 
 
 EgyptAir said the Airbus A320 was carrying 66 people on a flight from Paris to Cairo when disappeared from the radar at 2:45 a.m. Egypt time. 
 
 France remains under a state of emergency after Islamic extremist attacks killed 130 people in November. The Islamic State group continues to threaten the country. 
 
 ___ 
 
 6:55 a.m. 
 
 Ahram, Egypt's state-run newspaper, quoted an airport official as saying that the pilot had not sent a distress signal before the plane disappeared early Thursday. The last contact with the plane was 10 minutes before it vanished, he was quoted as saying. 
 
 __ 
 
 6:50 a.m. 
 
 The maker of the EgyptAir plane that has gone missing on a flight from Paris to Cairo says it's unclear what happened. 
 
 Airbus spokesman Jacques Rocca says Thursday the company is aware of the disappearance but "we have no official information at this stage of the certitude of an accident." 
 
 The A320 is one of the most widely used Airbus planes, a single-aisle plane that usually seats about 150 people and is used for short- and medium-range flights around the world. Nearly 4,000 are in operation, according the company's website. 
 
 __ 
 
 6:45 a.m. 
 
 Greece is participating in the search and rescue operation for the missing EgyptAir flight with two aircraft. Helicopters are on standby on the southern island of Karpathos for potential rescue or recovery operations. 
 
 The Hellenic National Defense General Staff said one frigate is also heading to the area where the plane disappeared and is about 100 nautical miles or 4 hours away at this time.
– Debris from EgyptAir Flight 804 has been found in the waters near Greece's Karpathos Island, ABC News reports via a statement from the airline. The country's Ministry of Civil Aviation was sent an official letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirming the find; EgyptAir says family members of passengers and crew have been informed and "conveys its deepest sorrows." Meanwhile, as officials probe the cause of the crash, an Egyptian official says it's looking more like terrorism than mechanical malfunction, USA Today reports. In a Thursday press conference held before the debris was confirmed, Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi says the "possibility of a terror attack is higher than that of a technical error," noting he based that assessment on "what I read and from my expertise," per Al-Ahram. But, he added, "these remain assumptions and possible scenarios." More developments: NBC News offers a breakdown of what countries the passengers were from. A radar map showing the plane's flight path appears on the Telegraph. There were three air marshals aboard the flight, per MSNBC. CBS News examines Egypt's "checkered air travel safety record." In addition to aviation experts, government officials, and law enforcement authorities, Donald Trump is chiming in on what he thinks happened, the New York Post reports.