Update: EgyptAir plane crashes into the sea, No Nigerian on-board

An EgyptAir flight which disappeared from radar screens en route from Paris to Cairo early Thursday, crashed into the sea off the southern Greek island of Karpathos while in Egyptian airspace, a Greece aviation source told AFP.

“At around 0029 GMT (3:29 am) when it was in Egyptian airspace, the plane disappeared from Greek radars… it crashed around 130 nautical miles off the island of Karpathos,” the source told AFP.

The official said the last communication with the pilot was three minutes before the plane disappeared, and that there had been no distress call.

The Greek defence ministry said it had dispatched two search planes and a frigate to the area.

 There were no Nigerians on board, according to the airline.

The nationalities of those onboard is as follows: French: 15, Egyptian: 30, British: 1, Belgium: 1, Iraqi: 2, Kuwaiti: 1, Saudi: 1, Sudanese: 1, Chadian: 1, Portuguese: 1, Algerian: 1, Canadian: 1.

According to the airline, 56 passengers, 3 EgyptAir security personnel and 7 crew members were onboard the aircraft, an Airbus A320 manufactured in 2003.

EgyptAir flight 804’s 56 passengers included one child and two infants, the airline said.

EgyptAir flight 804 left Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport at 11:09 p.m. It lost contact with the radar tracking system over the Mediterranean Sea at 2:45 a.m. at 37,000 feet, after entering Egyptian airspace, the airline said. The flight was expected to arrive at 3:15 a.m. (Both France and Egypt are in the same time zone.)

About four hours after news of the missing plane was reported, EgyptAir tweeted that military search and rescue received a distress call from the airplane emergency equipment.