An EgyptAir plane flying from Paris to Cairo crashed off the Greek island of Karpathos. Earlier it was reported that in the area of this island, the liner, which was carrying 66 people, disappeared from radar

EgyptAir Airbus A320 (Photo: Reuters/Pixstream)

The missing EgyptAir plane crashed near the Greek island of Karpathos. reports this Agence France-Presse , citing a source at the Greek airport. Similar data was distributed by the SkyNews Arabia channel . It was in this area that the missing A320 was last contacted.

According to Reuters , the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation officially urged not to draw any conclusions about the fate of the plane. At the same time, the agency notes, officials on condition of anonymity admit that the airliner most likely crashed. The opinion that the plane probably crashed in the Mediterranean Sea was also expressed by EgyptAir.

The search for the plane is currently underway. In addition to representatives of Egypt, Greece also participates in them. Greek air traffic control said it had not received information from the missing A320 about any problems on board. The last time its crew made contact was ten minutes before disappearing from radar.

Reuters also reported that the Greek Ministry of Defense is checking the testimony of the captain of the merchant ship. He stated that he saw "flames in the sky" 130 nautical miles from the island of Karpathos.

According to the track of the A320 on the Flightradar website, the plane did not change altitude or make any unusual maneuvers before disappearing. The flight recording is interrupted at a point over the Mediterranean Sea. A few hours after the plane went missing, information appeared that it had received a distress signal, but the Egyptian military denied information about receiving such a signal .

The EgyptAir plane was flying from Paris to Cairo. There were 66 people on board, including seven crew members and three security personnel. Among the passengers were three children, including two infants. The airline said the plane was carrying 30 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqi citizens, as well as one representative each from Great Britain, Belgium, Portugal, Canada, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Chad and Algeria.

The media named the site of the EgyptAir plane crash