Families of missing EgyptAir jet desperate for information

Record ID: 102966

  • Title: Families of missing EgyptAir jet desperate for information
  • Date: 19th May 2016
  • Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (MAY 19, 2016) (REUTERS) PEOPLE GATHERED AROUND EXTERIOR OF HALL HOSTING FAMILIES SIGN READING (English and Arabic): "EGYPTAIR IN-FLIGHT SERVICES" EGYPTAIR LOGO VARIOUS OF FAMILIES LEAVING HALL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RELATIVE, MOHAMED RAMEZ, SAYING: "There is no information at all. No one has any information at all, that's the idea." PEOPLE STANDING OUTSIDE HALL ENTRANCE JOURNALISTS GATHERED AROUND FAMILY MEMBER (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) BROTHER OF VICTIM, FATHER ARSINOUS, SAYING: "We just found out from the media that they found the wreckage of the aeroplane on the Greek side. I hope they find anyone who we can pray over." PEOPLE STANDING OUTSIDE HALL ENTRANCE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) KUWAITI FAMILY MEMBER, MASHAARI AL-SOHAILI, SAYING: "He dropped his children off in Paris a week ago and was coming to Egypt for a conference. We spoke to his children yesterday. They are staying at the airport there and they will return to Kuwait." EXTERIOR OF HALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) EGYPTIAN AVIATION MINISTER, SHERIF FATHI, SAYING: "When it lost contact it was entering Egyptian airspace. What we have identified so far, together with the Greek side, is that it was 280 kilometres from the coast of Egypt."
  • Embargoed: 3rd June 2016 16:29
  • Keywords: EgyptAir plane missing crash
  • Location: CAIRO, EGYPT / BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
  • City: CAIRO, EGYPT / BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
  • Country: Various
  • Topics: Air Accidents,Disaster/Accidents
  • Reuters ID: LVA0014IH65VR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Distressed relatives of passengers and crew of a missing EgyptAir jet waited for news at Cairo airport on Thursday (May 19).
    Egyptian authorities ushered the families into a closed-off waiting area, but those who emerged from the VIP hall said they had been given no information.
    EgyptAir said on its Twitter account that Flight MS804 had departed Paris on Wednesday evening. It disappeared at 02:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) at an altitude of 37,000 feet in Egyptian air space, about 280 km (165 miles) from the Egyptian coast before it was due to land at 03:15 a.m. (0115 GMT).
    Officials were reluctant to speculate over the disappearance while the search was under way. Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said it was too early to rule out any explanation, including an attack like the one blamed for bringing down a Russian airliner over Egypt's Sinai peninsula last year.
    But despite the caution, the country's aviation minister, Sherif Fathi, said a terrorist attack was more likely to have taken down the aircraft than a technical failure.
    Airbus said the missing A320 was delivered to EgyptAir in November 2003 and had operated about 48,000 flight hours.
    The missing flight's pilot had clocked up 6,275 hours of flying experience, including 2,101 hours on the A320, while the first officer had 2,766 hours, EgyptAir said.
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