Officials are working on the premise that the EgyptAir flight MS804 carrying 66 passengers and crew, heading to Cairo from Paris crashed into the sea about ten miles after entering Egyptian airspace.

As reported earlier, the flight vanished off of the radar. It is now reported the aircraft is an Airbus A320 and not a Boeing aircraft as believed in the earlier report.

Tweets released by EgyptAir stated the plane was flying at an altitude of 37,000 feet and about 280 kilometers (165 miles) from the Egyptian coastline. It vanished at 02:30 and was scheduled to land at 03:15. The Egyptian Air Force was activated to begin the search for the wreckage. It is added the last contact with the flight was ten minutes before it vanished and there was no distress call.

Among the passengers are a child and two infants along with 10 crew members. The airline reports the pilot has clocked over 6,275 hours of experience including over 2,101 on the A320 and his first officer had 2,766 hours of experience.

Weather was clear and not viewed as a contributory factor in the plane’s disappearance.

UPDATE: 9:55AM IL: The Egyptian Air Force, Navy and Coastguard are all involved in the search for the missing plane. According to a Guardian report, Greece has also joined the search, which is taking place about 280 km. north of the Egyptian coast in the Mediterranean.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)