French embassy following up EgyptAir missing plane developments

The French Embassy in Cairo said on Thursday its crisis center is following up developments of EgyptAir flight that vanished from radar at dawn.

On Twitter, the embassy published the crisis center phone numbers along with press statements by French authorities on the missing plane.

French President Francois Hollande will chair a meeting on means of dealing with the missing plane crisis, the embassy said.

France plans to send boats and planes to help search for the plane that went missing en route from Paris to Cairo with 15 French citizens aboard, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Thursday.

France said it is mobilizing and ready to send its military means, planes and boats, to search for this plane.

The national flag carrier has earlier said that Flight MS804 with 66 persons on board vanished from radar 10 miles after entering the Egyptian air field.

Some 56 passengers along with 10 crew members were on board the Airbus A320.

Radar lost contact with the flight at 2:45 Cairo local time while it was at an altitude of 37,000 feet.

The flight took off from Charles de Gaulle airport on Wednesday 23:09 Paris local time then it disappeared from radar after entering the Egyptian airspace.

EgyptAir said that the captain had recorded more than 6,000 flying hours, including 2,000 hours in that model.

The Armed Forces sent a number of planes and naval units to search for the plane that disappeared from radar earlier Thursday.

Greece sent a plane in coordination with Egypt to contribute to search and rescue efforts.

Source: MENA