French Foreign Minister urges caution over cause of EgyptAir plane disappearance

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said it was too early to comment on the causes of EgyptAir Flight 804’s disappearance.

“Too much unverified information is circulating,” Ayrault told reporters outside the Mercure hotel, where he met with families of the passengers. 

“If we want to respect the families, the first priority is to wait for information that is reliable before getting into hypotheses and commentaries,” he added.

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.

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail declared a state of emergency in all bodies concerned with following up the developments of missing EgyptAir plane.

Ismail and Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi have arrived at Cairo Airport on news of the missing plane.

So far, there are no confirmed reports on reasons behind the disappearance of the plane.

Source: MENA