CAIRO (Sputnik) – Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy has broken off his visit to Saudi Arabia and is returning to Egypt over the disappearance of an Egypt Air passenger plane, Egypt’s Al Wafd daily newspaper reports.
Flight MS804, en route from Paris to Cairo, went off radar screens at 00:45 GMT on Thursday, according to Egypt Air. There were 59 passengers and 10 crew members on board the Airbus 320 plane.
According to Sky News Arabia, the aircraft’s last appearance was above Greece.
Egypt Air Flight MS804 departed from the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at 23:09 GMT. The plane was headed for Cairo International Airport.
A search and rescue operation is underway.
According to Sky News Arabia, a special operational headquarters are being formed to follow up on the incident and the Egyptian aviation authorities are cooperating with the Greek authorities over the plane's disappearance.
On October 31, 2015, a Russia-operated Airbus A321 plane crashed en route from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg as a result of an explosion on board. All 224 people on board the plane were killed. The Islamic State (Daesh) radical group, which is outlawed in Russia and a range of other countries, said it had planted a bomb on board the aircraft.
