France and Egypt say no theory can be ruled out over the crash of EgyptAir flight MS804, amid a major international search for the plane, which plunged into the Mediterranean on Thursday morning with 66 people on board, reports The Guardian.
“The information we have gathered confirms, alas, that this plane has crashed, and it has disappeared,” said François Hollande at a press conference. “We have a duty to know everything about the cause and what has happened,” the French president added. “No theory is ruled out and none is certain right now.
“When we have the truth we will draw our conclusions; whether this was an accident or something else, perhaps terrorist. We will have the truth.”
The Airbus A320 took off from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport at 11.09pm local time on Wednesday night, bound for Cairo. Contact was lost at about 2.30am Egypt local time, Airbus confirmed. A major search is under way in the eastern Mediterranean involving C-130 rescue aircraft and at least eight boats.
“With the Egyptian authorities we will make sure the families are helped and informed through their ordeal,” Hollande said. “Our priority is solidarity and compassion with them.”
Egypt’s prime minister, Sherif Ismail, said terrorism was one possible explanation. “We cannot exclude anything at this time or confirm anything. All the search operations must be concluded so we can know the cause,” Ismail said when asked if terrorism might be involved.
Greek authorities were investigating an account from the captain of a merchant ship who reported seeing a “flame in the sky” about 130 nautical miles south of the island of Karpathos. The plane was about 10 miles inside Egyptian airspace when it vanished.