very short to cairo. contact lost at 2:45 cairo time. egypt air says rescue teams are searching for the aircraft including some from greece. no americans were on board, we're told. we can tell you the pilot has 6,275 hours, flying hours, including 2,101 flying hours on this airline. the coo could pilot has 2,766 flying hours. i want to go to kelly, in london. good morning, what is the very latest? >> good morning, jose. we just got a list of nationalities for the passengers on this flight and as expected t a mix of european, african, one canadian and i will run through some of them. the majority of egyptian, 30 egyptians, 15 for france, a british passengers, belgium, iraq, kuwait, saudi, sudanese, chadian, portuguese. 56 passengers, 10 crew members, three described as security personnel. we're not sure what that means yet. and just in the past couple minutes, egypt air has updated the information as when the flight went missing. they say it actually disappeared from radar at 2:30 local time. so about 15 minutes earlier than they had prev

other family members have decided to head to cairo. one flight went off at 3:45 this afternoon and another will leave this evening. french and egyptian nationality and they want to meet up with family members in cairo and find out on the egyptian side of affairs what happened and get some answers to their questions. and of course anybody will be talking about airport security at paris charles de gaulle airport where security is ramped up to the maximum following the attacks in paris last year. >> absolutely. tight but itbeen was ramped up as you say six months ago after those deadly attacks in paris. at the time, the airport someity actually revoked of the security passes of some of the baggage handlers and cleaners here. so the airport is very well aware that security needs to be tight and has now launched another investigation. >> was it possible for an explosive device to be put on the plane here in paris, or was it impossible -- was it possible it may have been put on in cairo or tunisia because the plane passed through all of thos

well, an egyptair plane crashed moments before landing in cairo, headed from paris to cairo. we'll have much more on this breaking news as it continues to develop, keep it right here. >>> good morning, and welcome back. if you are just joining us, we are following live, egyptair flight that crashed just off the coast of egypt. we are taking a look at the airport in cairo where the plane was due to land. it's 10:27 local time there. the plane went missing about 2:30 in the morning or so local time. so we are trying to figure out exactly what happened. security in the region a big concern, but also this could have been a mechanical disaster somewhere on the plane. we're not certain just yet. so we're looking at all angles of this, 66 people on board including the crew and passengers. >> children on board, two babies at least. last known to have been at 37,000 feet. and joining us to weigh in is fa-18 hornet pilot, leah gabriel. always nice to have you here to share your expertise. >> good morning to both of you. >> you've been following this all morning long as well. the discre

cairo time. here is the break down from greek civil aviation. they say about 35 minutes prior, that is about 1:55 a.m., cairo time, egypt air entered greek air space. ten minutes later, 2:05 greek air traffic controllers speak to the egyptian pilot while we was flying above the greek island of kia. no problems of communications there. the aircraft is at 37,000 feet at a speed of 519 miles per hour. then at 2:24, so this is six minutes before it's reported missing, air traffic controllers in greece tried to communicate with the egypt air pilot. he is ten miles from particular geographic point that air traffic controllers use. at that point, at 3:29, they lose communication with the egypt air flight. so it looks as though, according to greek air traffic controllers, the last communication was actually at 2:24 a.m. cairo time. and then of course egypt air saying the flight is no longer in contact with anyone by 2:30 a.m. about 40 minutes before it's scheduled to land in cairo. >> just thinking, we w

an egypt air flight heading from paris to cairo crashed into the mediterranean sea. the search is on for the wreckage and why it fell out of the sky. >>> new this morning, officers on patrol are in involved in an overnight crash. while bernie sanders and hillary clinton fight for every last delegate, there are fears of disruption in philadelphia this summer. those stories all next on "action news." nd earlier today we spoke about that with abc news contributor matthew olsen, the former director of the national counterterrorism center. >> well, maybe there's some information in the distress signal that we'll learn about later as the investigation ensues, but it seems to me that it could be consistent with either a mechanical failure or a terrorism event. either way, some sort of catastrophic event appears to have occurred. >> matt, on board this flight you had 30 egyptian, some french, 15 french citizen, you had a few others from the west including a canadian citizen and one britton was on board the flight. would that be the sort of plane terrorists would try to attac

we are talking about, 155 miles from cairo. it is unusual and several things could have happened. there could have been a catastrophic event like terrorism, could have been an electrical failure. we just don't know. nicole: thank you as we look at this mechanical failure, is it that, terrorism, wally ferris says it to be 50/50, we are continuing breaking news coverage. lauren: we have the latest on the disappearance of this egypt air flight going from paris to cairo, the search and rescue team, we will hear from former u.s. navy pilot and fox news correspondent leah gabriel and keep you up-to-date on market reaction to all of this. stock index futures, dow futures down 70 points, we are seeing more movement in leisure and travel stocks today. i don'or wonder whether i theshould seek treatment.c. i am ready. because today there's harvoni. a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. harvoni is proven to cure up to 99% of patients who've had no prior treatment. it transformed treatment as the first c

an egyptair flight from paris to cairo vanishes. a desperate search for the plane and 66 people on board. cnn satisis tracking latest. welcome back to "early start." i'm boris sanchez. >> i'm christine romans. it is 5:30 in the east. we welcome our viewers from around the world. it has been more than eight hours since egyptair flight 804 dropped from radar overnight en route from paris to cairo. hours ago, egyptair reported a distress signaling from the general vicinity from the plane some time after the crash. within the last hour, the french and egyptian officials exchanged condolences over what they call the fall of the aircraft. let's bring in cnn's ian lee at cairo international airport. we can assume this plane is somewhere in the mediterranean sea, ian? >> reporter: i think definitely at this point. it is well over eight hours since the plane disappeared from radar and no one has been able to pick it up since. i think you can make that assumption safely. the plane is somewhere in the mediterranean. we are hearing from the gre

it was en route from paris to r cairo. again, from paris to cairo. joining me via skype is mary schia schiavo. thank you for joining us. the information is egypt air flight 805, coming from paris, 58 passengers onboard, off the radar screen about 10:00 p.m. eastern time. what can you tell us, mary schiavo? >> well, not a whole lot, because there isn't much known at this point. on these particular routes, though, the heavily, heavily traveled routes, if there was some kind of a, you know, a mid-air explosion, something like that, i would think that there would be other, you know, other reports, including maybe perhaps pilot reports, but this is a -- this is not a remote route, in which the plane would go, hopefully would not go missing for very long. it is, of course, possible, there was some communications errors, and trouble with the communications, but it's starting to be a pretty long time for it not to reappear or for them not to have made some communication attempt. it's just very difficult to guess where it might be or why it has not communicat

egyptair flight 804 from paris to cairo vanishes. the search for the plane and 66 people on board is happening right now. cnn is tracking the latest. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm boris sanchez. >> i'm christine romans. it is 4:00 a.m. in the east. welcome to the viewers in the u.s. and around the world. our breaking news this morning. an egyptian passenger jet disappeared over the eastern mediterranean. egyptair flight 804 dropped from radar from paris to cairo. 170 miles off the coast of egypt. hours ago, egypt said there was a distress call from the general vicinity of the plane. i want to bring in cnn's ian lee at cairo international airport. we are seven hours into the disappearance of the aircraft. what do you know, ian? >> reporter: boris and christ e christine, right now, the main goal, the focus of the search is trying to find where the plane is. now egyptian officials, despite being over 7 1/2 hours from the plane's disappearance have not called it a crash. th they are searching an area off the egyptian coast.

cairo where it was destined to land. authorities there are setting up information centers for these family members to try to give them news as they get it. we know there were 15 french citizens on board, 30 egyptians and a mix of other passengers. a total of 56 passengers on board plus 10 crew members. >> those are images. you can see the grief on that one particular woman's face there as we believe paris charles de gaulle. we want to show you a live picture right now. this is of the cairo airport where that plane was expected to arrive around 4:00 local time this morning. just i would say about 175 miles or so from that location where it's believed right now by aviation officials that the plane went down. there's a massive search effort that is taking place at this hour for that plane. we show you here the map and you can see where that search is centered near the island, greek island of karpathos. >> they last received communication from the pilots at around 37,000 feet, cruising altitude which is raising lots of quest

again, not cairo. cairo is a very large airport where security is supposed to be that of western standards. but in some of these airports in egypt, and certainly sharm el sheikh is one of them, you can tip someone to go aunder rround metal detech tors. >> just so save time. >> that was happening consistently until about six months ago when we had that metrojet crash. the egyptians slammed down hard and said they had fixed those issues. >> i'm curious about the cargo manifest. when a plane lands at any airport, is it completely emptied of the cargo, or could something be put on a plane at one point and then continue on? >> and remain onboard? and this was the fifth leg for this aircraft, which is exactly what folks in paris are going to be looking at. was there anything on board that then remained onboard and made that trip to cairo? and who were the last people to look at that? and to tom costello's point, just because the manifest doesn't read that there's anything wrong, that's absolutely no indicati

it was headed to cairo airport when it vanished 2:45 a.m. cairo time. according to officials, it was about 10 miles into egyptian airspace over mediterranean sea when it disappeared from radar trackers. it was reportedly flying at an altitude of 37,000 feet at the time. weather conditions were said to be clear in the area when the plane vanished. according to egyptair there were 56 passengers on board the flight including three children. there were also seven crew members and three security personnel on board. there were also 30 egyptian passengers on board, 15 french nationals, two iraquis, and others. none of the passengers are believed to be american citizens. the a-320 aircraft that disappeared was made in 2003. according to egyptair, the pilot and copilot together had more than 9,000 flying hours recorded. right now egyptian armed forces are conducting search operations with a number of planes and naval units. the greek military sent the ship and two aircraft to help in the search. france has also offered to send planes and boats. egypt's military

a passenger plane goes crashes en route to cairo. we have the up-to-the minute details on the search effort for the plane and the dozens of people now missing. good morning washington. today: cloudy. isolated showers/drizzle early. some afternoon clearing. highs: 66-72 winds: nw 5 mph tonight: mainly clear and comfortably cool. lows: 46-55 winds: light friday: mostly sunny. high clouds increasing towards the late afternoon. highs: 69-75 winds: se 5 mph breaking this morning. an egyptair flight from paris to egypt crashes overnight. the airbus a320 was

it was bound for cairo airport in egypt. it left about 15 minutes late local time in paris, about 1111:09 pam. it was scheduled to land 3:00 a.m. local time in cairo. this is something that obviously did not happen. we're talking about ten, 15 minutes or so prior to the scheduled landing time, that plane disappeared from radar, simply disappeared. it was approximately 260 kilometers north of the seashore. the shoreline there in egypt, in those waters of the mediterranean between greece and cairo. it is a most peculiar situn.

in the morning egypt time there in cairo. so would you imagine that they do have access to those conversations, to that information at this point even though we haven't heard what that might be? >> absolutely. it doesn't matter. as soon as an aircraft goes missing and most likely as soon as they couldn't establish radar contact -- because they'll start making radio calls in the blind, trying to establish radio communication. they may have even tracked the airplane for a little while without talking to the pilots. all of that, they are going to sequence that to see if there was some sort of communication failure. there are ways to determine whether or not the airplane -- it could have still been being tracked on radar for a short period of time. if the transponder which mikey talked about as far as the transponder code being the secondary code, if that went off radar so they didn't have a discrete code but they still had the primary, again, they will look at that, try to analyze if that was that fading away where they lost the

they are at cairo. they have been moved to terminal one where there is medical staff on board and translators trying to console the family. 30 egyptians and 15 french and one britain and one belgium and a number of other nationality. they are desperately anxious and hoping for any news of this plane in the sea. >> benjamin hall live in london. just to recap egypt air flight ms804 has apparently crashed and we will update you throughout the mohning. stay tuned. >>> this is a fox news alert and i'm patricia stark. if you are just joining us, we have been following breaking developments all night of an egyptian air flight, ms804, air bus a320 that has apparently crashed into the mediterranean sea. it was traveling from charles degaulle airport in paris, france to cairo, egypt and skeed aisled for an problemly four-hour trip. never made it to its destination. radar lost contact about 37,000 feet and toward the end of the journey. we have been getting conflicting alls all night on if there was a distress cal

it should have been here in cairo. if they aren't able to detect it anywhere else, the likelihood really increases by the minute that this plane did, indeed, crash although egyptian officials again, the ones we are talking to, the vice president of egyptair, still not going that far as to say that this plane has crashed. >> and just very quickly, ian, of course we're looking at these pictures from the airport there. a lot of distressed family and friends, the loved ones waiting to hear more information on this. what sort of support systems are in place for them? >> reporter: yeah, i think that's the big thing here, rosemary. we need to remember that there were 66 people onboard this flight. 56 passengers. there were two infants. there was one child. we've seen some family members here at the airport coming, and egyptair has a home for them to meet with transls, to meet with counselors, to meet with doctors who are here to assist them. egyptair officials are also there to assist them. and as you can imagine, emotions ar

to cairo. official saying the plane crashed into the sea. here is what we know. the flight had 66 passengers on board including crew, including one child, two infants, none of those passengers american. egypt there is saying the plane sent an emergency signal two hours after it disappeared from radar. greek residents and a merchant ship captain saw a fire in the sky. family the move on board going to charles they gaulle airport, cairo air force for any updates. we went to check global market action and see if there is any reaction on this breaking news. mixed performance, very fractured, but across the board this morning, take a look, travel related companies getting hit hard. the s&p is down 1% and the cac quarante 1%, the dec's index in germany another 1/2%. futures in the us look like this. we expect the lower opening and broader averages this morning, we are looking at any connection in terms of market reaction. dow jones industrial average right now expected to open down 70 points, the nas

and the aircraft had no recorded snags coming out of cairo. there was no snags reported leaving charles de gaulle to cairo. the captain on the flight has 6,000 hours. the first officer has 4,000-plus hours in flight. there was no special cargo on the flight and no notification to captain of dangerous goods. those are the facts as of now. the airbus 320 has entered service on the 3rd of november, 2003. >> now, egypt, of course, is no stranger to headline-making incidents involving planes. back in november 1985, gunmen hijacked an egyptair flight bound for agentens and diverted the jet to malta. dozens of passengers were killed after egyptian troops raided that plane. >> moving forward to october of 1999, after a stopover? new york, egyptair flight 990 crashed into the atlantic ocean, killing all 217 people onboard. investigators later concluded that the co-pilot deliberately caused that crash. and separately from egyptair, more recently a metrojet flight was downed in egypt's sinai peninsula, killing all 224 people onboard. isis claimed respons

cairo time. it was due to land at 3:05 cairo time so not long until it was due to land. that was the plane's final contact we understand with air control. we understand it was also not a distress call. it disappeared just after entering egyptian airspace and over the mediterranean sea. a major search and rescue operation as you can imagine is under way with teams from both egypt and greece. france saying they are willing to help a crisis center has been set up. cairo airport, egypt's civil aviation minister is expected to hold a news conference so hopefully you'll be able to get more information on what happened and it's clearly a distressing time for family and friends. >> distressing indeed and still a lot of questions surround all this, the story moving on several fronts, lama, thank you so much for keeping us informed. >>> okay, let's move on and get from the aviation aspect right now. for his take on what we know at this point we're joined by john nance on the phone. john, good morning. >> good morning. >> since we spoke earlier so much information has come out abou

the egyptian prime minister has just arrived at cairo airport. this is the latest news we have. egyptair flight eight 4, officials say the plane probably crashed into the sea. >> there is no confirmation of a distress call. 37,000 feet when it vanished, the egyptian armed forces are working with greece. one canadian as well on board. 56 passengers, two passengers, one child, we are told three security personnel on board, five cabin crew and two pilots, the captain, and the first officer were in the cab bin when the plane disappeared. >> we know that egyptian air force and navy, deployed to the area. time is of the essence. we are being told, they are saying that the plane disappears north of the egyptian coast. this is a story that cnn will stay with you for that. >> >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >>> hello and welcome, everyone. you are watching cnn breaking news. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm errol barnett. our special coverage continues. an urgent search and rescue operation is under way at this hour off the northern coast of egypt

just 40 minutes before reaching cairo, the plane vanished over the mediterranean sea. egyptian officials said the plane last made contact with ground control ten minutes before the plane's disappearance. the pilot also made no distress call. this isn't the first time egyptair has made headlines. back in march, an egypt airplane was hijacked and diverted to cypress by a man who was mentally unstable. in 1999, one of the flights crashed into the atlantic ocean near nantucket. all 217 people aboard were killed. u.s. investigators concluded the plane's co-pilot switched off the auto pilot and pointed the boeing 767 downward before the crash. egyptian officials insist mechanical error was to blame. egypt's prime minister says he cannot at this point rule out the possibility this was a terrorist attack. one child and two babies were among the 56 passengers board. no americans were on the flight. >> all right. thank you, jonathan. >>> coming up on the "cbs morning news," we'll have more on the search for egyptair flight 804 and more insight into what may have gone wrong. this

these scenes we're getting right now of the airport in cairo. word from egyptair they're now hosting the passenger family that facility there near the airport and have provide some doctors, translators and all the necessary services. translarities because there were people from 12 nationalities on board when it went down. >> the passenger breakdown was 53 adult passengers, two infants, one child, seven crew members and three security officers. >> the equivalent of air marshals for us. this raises questions about security yet again in egypt. they have beefed up security at the airports there. all throughout egypt after you recall the incident in sharm el sheikh that took place when a russian jet crashed after takeoff. had you a hijacking that took place after an egypt flight took off from the coastal city of it alexandria on the way to cairo. >> a few months after the attacks in paris, security has been beefed up at that airport, as well. many questioning how this could have happened mainly on a plane going from paris airport to cairo. the other

and egyptair plane crashes in onte to cairo with 56 people board. conflicting reports on where the wreckage has been found. we do not know what caused the crash. investigators are looking at if there was a mechanical failure or terrorist attack. >> it made a 90 degree turn to the left than 360 degree turn to the right. the picture we had was lost. >> he rescued hundreds of children from the holocaust. dozens gathered for a service celebrating him. welcome to our viewers on public television here in america and around the globe. the egyptair plane that disappeared thursday is most likely to have been brought down by a terrorist act than by a technical fault. that is the view of officials in cairo where the plane was heading. it left paris and most passengers were french and egyptian. records have been found with our conflicting reports of that. morning even through their tears there was hope their loved ones could be found alive despite the plane having vanished overnight. the debris crashed into the sea. suddenly it disappears. this an attack or mec

now what they are trying to do in cairo with the president. we should look at the patterns of behavior of what isis is doing and see that. i know of no event in all of my years fighting fighters with bombs on them that they just exploded mid air. you never hear of that, of commercial aircraft. so that is why i am leaning so far forward and saying i believe this is an act of terrorism and probably isis is behind it. clearly it is radical islam. >> you mentioned the passenger list itself. we have additional information on that. that is what tells you also that it could be something following the pattern of isis. there were 15 french, 30 egyptian, one british, one belgium, two iraqis, one kuwaiti, one sudanese, one person from chad. one portuguese and one canadian. it runs the gamete. looking at that why would you think it was more of a pattern that isis follows? >> i couldn't prove that because i don't know the history of these people. when someone wants to become a martyr and kill himself like suicide bombers that is a pattern of behavior. i do

cairo time. now according to officials, the plane was about ten miles or so into egyptian air space when it disappeared from radar trackers. i was the flying at 37,000 feet at the time. there were 56 passengers on board, three children. seven crew members as well as three security personnel on board. none of the passengers are reportedly american citizens. right now, egyptian armed forces are conducting search operations with a number of planes and naval units. and we hope a rescue, but then it could move to recovery operation. france has also offered to send planes and boats. egypt's military is reporting that it received no message, no signal whatsoever from that plane after it disappeared from radar. we are getting pictures of the family members arriving overnight. a crisis center has been set up at this airport. we are told there are 15 french nationals on board of those 56 passengers. joining me from chicago nbc news correspondent tom costello who is our aviation correspondent. i know i call

cnn international correspondent arwa damon is in cairo at the cairo airport. what are officials saying now about the status of the investigation? >> reporter: well, they also are echoing that notion by the u.s. that this was more likely to be an act of terrorism as opposed to some sort of technical failure. that being said, the vice chairman of egyptair is saying that he stands corrected. he had earlier stated that the wreckage of the plane had been found. that is no longer the case. this is still very much a plane that is missing with a search and recovery mission -- >> we just lost our audio from arwa damon live there in the cairo airport. i want to bring back our aviation expert peter goelz. we had this back and forth of whether they found debris and now they said they didn't. when they do find this debris, what signatures, what evidence are they going to be looking for on the wreckage they find to give an indication as to what brought the plane down? >> well, they are going to look at how the wreckage came apart and for the telltale signatures of explosion

an egypt air flight from paris to cairo vanishes. 66 people aboard. the latest coming up. >>> walmart set to role out quarterly results this morning following disappointments from many other retailers. three o things to watch for that. >> and monsanto has received a takeover bid from bayer. could a mega merger be in the works? may 19th, 2016. "worldwide exchange" begins right now. ♪ >> good morning and welcome to "worldwide exchange." >> overnight an egypt airplane carrying 66 passengers and crew disappeared from radar this morning over the mediterranean. egypt air is egypt's national airm. on board, 30 egyptian, 15 french nationals, one brit, and one belgian among others. scrambled aircraft and bottas search for the plane. the plane was flying an altitude of 37,000 feet when it disappeared at 2:30 a.m. the live report from paris is coming up in a few minutes time. >>> let's get up to speed on early market action. after stocks were gyrating all over the place on the back of yesterday's fed minutes were which were interpreted to put june firmly back

it took off from paris and was bound for cairo. we will bring you more of the developing story as it comes into the newsroom. in other world news, and venezuela, clouds of tear gas in caracas, or the thousands of antigovernment protesters. the opposition is seeking a referendum to oust the president of ahis ordering wide-ranging state of emergency. in response to the unrest, the president said he would use force to ensure peace as protests continued. riot police out in force in the capital and thousands of antigovernment protesters try to reach the headquarters of the national electoral council. .hey were met with tear gas the opposition is seeking a recall referendum that could save -- i could see the president removed from office and they have called to the supporters to take to the streets. >> we are marching to the headquarters to demand the prosecution that started. >> we want a change. the democratic and fiscal tools for the government. >> despite the rising discontent, the president has dug in his heels, declaring the 60 day

an egyptair flight disappears from radar over the mediterranean sea en route from paris to cairo with 66 people on board. >>> good morning from the studio 57 newsroom at cbs news headquarters here in new york. good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green. we begin this morning with breaking news. another commercial airliner has vanished from the sky. egyptair flight 804 was from paris to cairo, a heavily trafficked route, when it disappeared from radar early this morning about 170 miles from the egyptian coast. the flight takes j four hours. search and rescue crews have been deployed in the mediterranean sea. our elaine cobb is at charles de gaulle airport. good morning. what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning. the flight took off from here and disappeared -- [ inaudible ] crossing into egyptian airspace. a distress signal was received by the jet before it disappeared, but it's unclear if it was from the pilot or if it was an aat signal. the a-320 -- [ inaudible ] egyptair says there were passengers on board including -- >> we're going to hopefully get a chance to come back to yo

the day before, the plane had been in cairo, in eastern africa, in tunisia. do those places ring any bells for you? >> absolutely. really up until now -- and we're awaiting the results here, but our primary concern was in airports in just those places. >> right. >> coming out of the middle east, out of north africa, we had a lot of questions about airport security. we've tried to work with our partners overseas to help them harden their defenses and if in fact this was an explosive not placed in one of those places but placed on the bomb in paris or a passenger that got through security, maybe with one of these bombs it's more difficult to detect and aqap has never stopped working on those, if that's the case, it says a lot more about isis or al qaeda's capability and a lot about the work that we have yet to do to harden our defenses. that would be a shocking conclusion. >> we haven't heard a lot about aqap, al qaeda and the arabian peninsula in a while. isis has really been in the forefront of media discussions and american's fears. but aqap is still very, v

we start in cairo with becky anderson at cairo international airport. becky. >> reporter: this is potentially a very significant development. were it to be true. this will be the first, i guess, bit of information that those who have been gathered here, the relatives and family of the 66 people on board, majority of whom were egyptian and french nationals. it will come as shocking news to them. given that this has until this point, been still a search and rescue operation being run by the egyptians in conjunction with the gsreek and help from the british and from the french and french investigators arriving here to the airport just in the past couple hours. by the cypriots and italians. enormous operation. the president of egypt insisted and demanded that this search be intensified. he pulled in assets from aviation and from the military here and from the navy. were this to be a fact and we are still waiting. we have only heard this from the spokesman for the military here in egypt. awaiting to get more detail on this. were this to be true, this would c

bill neely in cairo. bill, the egyptian authorities have been quite tight-lipped about all of this so far. what are you hearing there? >> reporter: yes, chris, whatever way you look at it, this is an egyptian tragedy, an egyptian plane, most of the dead are egyptian, and egypt will lead the investigation. actually, we've just heard within last hour, that the french air accident investigation branch, the main investigative body, is sending three investigators here to cairo. also one person from airbus, the manufacturers of the plane that went down. but egypt will lead the investigation as it did with the metrojet crash in october of last year. the egyptian prime minister said today, it was too early to rule out any explanation but he did specifically say, including a terrorist attack. his aviation minister here at the airport was much more forthcoming. he said it was much more likely that this plane crashed as a result of terrorist activity than of mechanical failure. he didn't give or provide any evidence

eastern time, 2:30 in the morning cairo time. it had just entered egyptian air space nearing the end of its four-hour flight at 37,000 feet when it simply vanished. the defense minister says the plane made a steep drop and sudden swerves before disappearing. there were 66 people on board. most were egyptian. none were american. some things we do know, the weather at the time clear. the plane a model with one of the best safety records in the skies. and both pilots veterans with thousands of hours in the cockpit. frantic search right now in the waters off greece. air space around the plane's last location is now closed indefinitely. the greek government has sent in ships and planes to search for any clues. and the u.s. navy is also now involved at the request of the greeks. family members and loved ones arrive at the airports, both in paris and cairo to wait for any answers. let's get right to our correspondents here in the united states and around the world. joining me live from chicago, tom costello who covers aviation. good mor

grn reporter is in cairo with the very latest. amena? >> the egyptian authorities have yet to issue any official statements about what happened with this plane. they have made it very clear that until this point the plane is still considered missing and that the -- that they do not recognize the debris found in the mediterranean just a couple of hours ago that this is from the missing flight. also, egyptian civil aviation minister has urged the media not to speculate and to wait for official results. he has, however, also said at this point nothing is ruled out, including a terrorist attack on the plane. he even went as far as saying a terrorist attack at this point is more likely than a crash. he based the statement on his own experience and bits and pieces of information he has received so far. egyptian president has also held emergency meeting late thursday night to discuss the latest developments with the civil aviation minister and committee in charge of the search. this comes among big dispatch of military fighters that egypt has d

it was supposed to land in cairo a few hours later but it never landed. it likely crashed into the mediterranean. the question is now, we are getting in live pictures. keep in mind, it is morning there. this is the airport in charles degaulle airport. >> jean is there with us tonight, a lot of new information is coming in wharks a what are the updates. >> there are no americans, one canadian and most of the passengers are egyptians. egypt air flight left charl charles degaulle airport. the airline is posting updates on social media saying the air a 320 disappeared from radar from the egyptian coast some where over the mediterranean. that's about 10 minutes after reaching egyptian aerospace. 66 passengers and crew on board. the plane was at 37,000 feet when it disappeared. it is now 8:00 in the morning in cairo and people are just waking up to the news. >> that is an egypt's state television news anchor talking about the missing plane. this video from nbc news shows you what the aircraft looks like. we don't believe this is the specific plane. the a 320 se

. >> bhak fo cairo. becky, as you know, the disappearance, shying a light on how they handle the situation this time. here, the security for which, the maintenance for which. was outside of egypt. clearly, 30 egyptian passengers on pressure on the authorities here, to work out, still much confusion, more questions disappeared en route, with 66 people on board. another thought is that this is a plane taken down by a bomb. >> authorities have no idea to support that. based on congesture. fell out of the cause is more even that it took months, to admit to what happened with the me mete -- there. a flight inbound much discrepancies yesterday, thursday, this is now been in the mix for 24 hours. first details. 2:29, 360 to the right before disappearing, that is coming from greek authorities. the discrepancies come from greinke. we suggested debris has been found. that is road back on. that discrepancy, did come from the mouth of the egypt business. what we do be building the pilots, identify and as report on b

we continue to follow breaking news from cairo. right now rescue crews are searching for any sign of a missing egypt air jetliner that the associated press is reporting crashed towards the end of its flight from pariss to cairo. next, we will update you with the newest information. >>> also, when every second counts. next there's a life-saving app that can connect you directly with nearby emergency medical care even before medics reach you. morning noon or night there's always a moment to discover visit annapolis and create your moment >>> it's 4:15 and 55 degrees outside. we are following breaking news from overseas this morning after a plane disappeared. here's what we know. egyptair flight 804 from paris to cairo vanished overnight with 66 people on board. aviation officials say the plane most likely crashed. egypt's prime minister says there was no distress call and nothing can be ruled out right now. you can tap the nbc 10 app to follow realtime developments on the search for the plane. >>> closing arguments are scheduled for

it was expecting to land some four hours later in cairo. it disappeared shortly before landing there. oh alex, you're on your way there. what are you learning from your point? >> reporter: good morning, kendis. that's right. we've just gotten word moments ago from egyptair the airline flying this plane there was a distress signal that is now being analyzed by the military search and rescue teams. it's just a signal. it's very important to differentiate between that and a call. so far no indication any sort of distress call was made. the last aviation authorities had contact with this plane were the greeks as they left greek air space across the mediterranean and headed towards egypt. the greek air traffic controllers said this plane just vanished. we know from radar that the plane disappeared around ten mi still flying at 37,000 feet. shortly before the plane was due to land about three hours and 40 minutes into the flight when it disappeared. we know that there were 66 people on board. ten of them were crew. 56 of them passengers. the majo

., paris is in the same time zone as cairo. four-hour long flight. scheduled to land at 3:05, we are told by the airline, they lost contact at 2:45 a&m 20 minutes before it was due to touch down. it was at 37,000 feet, as you say. 10 minutes into egyptair space. this plane would be coming into the airport and right now, if you do the math, it is coming up to three hours overdue. >> it seems like it will be a search for a downed plane. three hours overdue is unlikely anything else could have happened. i have been on this flight path many times, if they haven't started, they will start to plan, over the medterraini, i hd major terb bans coming into cairo from paris, it has always been a fairly smooth flight. these are all things they are going to look into. all of these possibilities, what happened, to could have happened to this flight. to know what exactly happened. three hours after it was supposed to land, i don't think anyone can think anything else, then it has crashed into the ground. >> dealing with authorities in cairo, not the most forthcomin

it happened around 2:45 cairo time, just vanishing from radar screens. according to officials, the plane was just about ten miles into egypt air space when it disappeared from the radar trackers and it was reportedly flying at an altitude of 37,000 feet at the time. that would be a high cruising altitude. according to egyptair, there were 56 passengers on board that flight including three children. also seven crew members and three security personnel on board on behalf of egyptair. none of the passengers are reportedly american citizens. right now, egyptian armed forces are conducting search operations with a number of planes and naval units and greek military sending in two ships to help. we hope it will be a rescue before it turns into the recovery operation. egypt's military is reporting it has received no message or signal whatsoever from the plane after it disappeared from radar. we are getting some images now of family members of passengers on board that missing flight arriving at charles de gaulle airport overnight. a crisis center has been set up

abc's molly hunter, live from cairo. thank you for everything you're doing to try to get answers on that end. >>> and do stay with abc news for the latest on the search. we're going to have more ahead on "america this morning" as well as "good morning america." >> the idea that terrorism appears to be the cause of this crash is one issue that has hillary clinton and donald trump finally in agreement. >> but on most everything else, both candidates are lobbing accusations for the first time, clinton is calling out trump saying he's not qualified to be president. trump is firing back at her and unleashing his most personal attack yet on her husband. abc's tom llamas with details. >> reporter: donald trump proving nothing is off limits. dramatically intensifying his attacks on former president bill clinton's history with women. >> i looked at the "new york times." are they going to interview juanita broderick? are they going to interview paula jones? are they going to interview kathleen willey? in one case, it's about expos

secretary kerry met in cairo. it is an interesting coincidence, considering what's going on right now. >> absolutely. i'm trying to get up to speed. even more information comes in. i'm looking here at the associated press copy as you were speaking. the french prime minister now issuing a statement saying that france is ready to join in the search operations if egyptian authorities have requested it. we're not aware of that happening yet. and also saying that no cause can be ruled out. he said that earlier. >> right. that egypt is considered to be a target for terrorists. it is an important target. that something was put on in paris. we've learned that it could have been mechanical issues. we know there were some struggles in reason years. the planes may not be inspected as stringently as in other countries. it looks like, 130 miles east of the greek island. so reports coming in. we know the beacons are in the water. that's why egyptair has confirm that it has gone down. so we don't know if they're onsight. >> what

cairo time. since we know that a lot of naval ships have been deployed to the area they've lost contact with. this is a graphic of the ships closing in on the last reported position of the plane. i'm counting some of the ships and there are at least seven or eight that we know of. it is a joint operation between the egyptian air force, the navy, and the french government. we are expecting two news conferences on both sides. there were saudi, u.k., french, and egyptian citizens on board. the first news conference may happen in the next hour or so. we have a second news conference in about two hours and a half from now on the egyptian side. we just know there was this egyptair plane that vanished overnight with 66 people on board. communication was lost at 2:30 a.m. cairo time. we also have conflicting reports on whether egyptian armed forces received a distress signal. it is in operation, search-and-rescue, that is ongoing. we will bring you any breaking news. there is a number you can call to che

the jet was headed from paris to cairo. nbc 10's katy zachry is live in the digital operations center following late breaking developments. >> tracy, we're told there will be a press conference later this morning at the cairo airport, where this plane was headed. that is scheduled for 6:30 our time. now, we also know that family members of people who were on board the plane have been showing up at the airport in paris as well as cairo, looking for information about their loved ones. egyptair flight 840 had taken off from paris and was headed to cairo when it vanished from radar around 2:45 a.m. egypt time. 66 passengers and crew members were on board. we are being told no americans were on the flight. egyptian authorities have told nbc news that search operations are under way over the mediterranean sea. here is one of the reasons why investigators are considering terrorism to be behind this. >> planes just simply don't fall out of the sky at 37,000 feet. this is the safest portion of your traveling day or your journey, i s

this flight began in europe and headed to cairo, rather than vice-versa. as for the region when this was first reported and i spoke to you 45 minutes ago, there were some reports it had been ten miles over egyptian land. that's where we had the thought that m this could have been something from the plane. but now it is over the water it makes it less likely. the problem they are having right now, anytime in that region, egypt and libya r talking about them together when you talk to u.s. authority and the gals and guys on the desk that monitor the chatter and intelligence, when you talk to those working right now the intelligence they will tell you they are grouping those two countries together. the reason why is it is basically a wide-open border between the two. you are seeing significant training of terrorists in libya right now. they'll tell you the number one threat to u.s. security is not syria. they believe it is libya and egypt because egypt is a direct link. so there's been this concern. i've seen it built up much more in the last year. when i talk