May 19, 2016

EgyptAir Official Confirms: “We Have Found the Wreckage”

Flight MS804 disappeared overnight on Thursday.

Rex Features/AP

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UPDATE, May 19, 12:56 p.m. EST: The vice president of EgyptAir confirmed that officials have recovered wreckage from the plane.

Egyptian authorities confirmed on Thursday that the EgyptAir plane that went missing overnight had crashed into the Mediterranean. Flight MS804, which took off in Paris, was carrying 66 people when it disappeared shortly after crossing into Egyptian airspace.

In a press conference Thursday, French President Francois Hollande said “no hypothesis was being ruled out” in the crash, including the possibility of terrorism. The country remains under a state of emergency that went into effect after the Paris attacks in November.

“When we have the truth, we must draw all the conclusions, whether it is an accident or another hypothesis, which everybody has in mind, the terrorist hypothesis,” Hollande said.

The Associated Press reports the last known contact with the plane was recorded about 10 minutes before it vanished, with no distress call received. The plane departed at 11:05 p.m. and was expected to land at 3:15 a.m. in Cairo, according to EgyptAir.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump weighed in on the crash on Thursday, speculating that it was likely the result of a terrorist attack.

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