betty, it's 7:30 in the morning cairo time. e sun has been up for the past couple hours in that region. a search and rescue is under way on the part of the egyptian search and rescue officials as well as the greeks who have now joined this rescue effort. we understand nbc news being told by the greek national defense they have sent in two aircraft including a c-130 hercules and an early warning aircraft, and two helicopters standing by in the southern island of karpathos. and the greek intelligence telling us they have a few miles from where it disappeared. the flight left charles de gaulle airport, the biggest airport in paris, 11:09 local time last night. it was three hours and 49 minutes into the flight to kcaio when it simply vanished from radar. no indication of what happened. and no weather issues, betty. apparently the weather was clear in the area at the time. the egyptian civil aviation ministry is involved in and cairo air officials tell us 56 passengers were on board. ten crew, three dribd as security personnel. there

these scenes we're getting right now of the airport in cairo. e now hosting the passenger family that facility there near the airport and have provided some doctors and translators and all the necessary services. translators 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. of course this raises a whole number of 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 last fall. then you had a hijacking that took place after an egyptair flight, similar to this plane a-320 took off from the coastal city of 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 pla

. >> the plane left paris late last night heading to cairo, egypt. nished from radar early this morning. an airline official now says a distress call was received from the airplane's emergency equipment before they lost contact with it. aviation officials also confirm the plane has crashed. >> egyptair says the airbus was flying in egyptian air space at the time. it had just in fact enteredee gypion air space. conditions were fairly clear at the time. so that might not have been a major factor. so what was the major factor in this? let's bring in matt olsen. matt, you hear the sort of news that a plane at cruising altitude which is supposed to be the safest point disappears out of the air and you think what? >> yeah, well we don't know exactly yet what the cause was, of course. but given what we do know that this was a plane taking off from egypt that, it was destined for paris, france, you have to consider the possibility. >> or the other way around. just wanted to clarify. go ahead. >> yes that, there was, that there was terrorism involved. given th

the flight was headed from paris to cairo, egypt. benjamin hall has been joining us from london, benjamin? >> well, very sad news in the sense that we are just hearing that france has expressed their condolences to their counterp t counterpar counterparts. it is the first indication that they suspect those on board may have died. that is not confirmed. but france expressing condolences to the families. and a lot of the families are meeting in the cairo airport. distressing scenes there, doctors are on site. but the rest of the world still trying to figure out what happened to this plane amid conflicting reports. egyptair going to great lengths to say this was not terrorism and to say they should not jump to any conclusions while the egyptian prime minister, the french prime minister saying nothing can be ruled out. if there is any indication of terrorism, this would be devastating for egypt itself, which has suffered a great deal with its economy, as isis have ruled in, and moved into that region. so a lot of people, really on edge, w

and yet, the cairo airport serves as a last point of department to the united states. now, the administration is rushing to open regularly scheduled commercial air service to cuba and designate 10 new airports as last points of departure into the united states. i fear that the security situation at these airports in cuba is much, much worse than places like cairo. and while there are only five direct flights to the united states each week from somewhere like egypt, the administration's proposal calls for up to 110 daily flights between the united states and cuba. i hope to visit cuba in the near future with representative katko and others to evaluate the airport security situation myself. the administration's plans to open direct commercial air service to cuba is, in my judgment, being unnecessarily rushed. there are serious security concerns here that seem to be taking a back seat to a legacy-building effort. although cuba has taken steps to liberalize its economy in recent years, the country is still being led by a communist dictator who has been ruthless against his

the plane disappeared. 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 are

in the two days before the crash, it had flown seven legs cairo, andis, paris, brussels. thorities have released little on the crew, but it consisted of 10 personnel, including two pilots and three security agents. egyptair says the captain was an experienced pilot with exit -- .ith 6000 hours the airline has a reputation for safety. writeup asn a good recently as january. since 1985 5 the firm has seen only five crashes in all, fewer than both air france or american airlines. but a reporter joins us from toulouse. it is sending aviation experts to cairo in the wake of this crash. is that standard practice for the company? >> one has just arrived in the last half-hour and a bunch more are coming tomorrow morning to cairo to help with that investigation. whenever called out the country appeals for them too come. they will analyze all the data coming in and are looking at when maintenance checks were carried out, anand if therere we any incidents in the past. one has arrived and a few more will be arriving to more morning to be >> the plane that crashed 320.n airbus a it doe

there are crisis centers set up at charles de gaulle airport as well as at the airport in cairo. relatives are gathering at both places at this point. french and egyptian nationals made up the motion of that manifest. 30 egyptians, 15 french on board that plane as well as a number of europeans, africans and people from the middle east. we understand that the french foreign minister was going to meet with the families at the airport and we're hoping to hear from him again shortly. we have not yet heard from him. but the french also pledging any kind of support the egyptians may need in terms of search and rescue. as we have been talking about, there are already greek ships, aircraft in the area. there are private merchant aircraft heading to that region, about 170 miles north of the egyptian coast in the mediterranean. south-southeast of crete. of course the egyptians are heavily involved in searching this area for any sign of this plane. interestingly though, alex the last known communication with this plane was just as it was exiting greek air space. and then dropped off the rada

the east coast. notably we are approaching 11:00 a.m. local time in cairo. e focused there right now as we continue our coverage of the disappearance of egyptair flight 804. it took off just over seven hours ago now from paris charles de gaulle airport. it was bound for cairo airport, should have landed. but about 15 minutes before that scheduled landing, it simply disappeared from radar at an altitude of about 37,000 feet while flying over the mediterranean not too far offshore, over those waters between greece and egypt. let's go right now to nbc's aviation expert, our tom costello. tom, we want to talk about the a-320 plane. as you've called, it is a workhorse. it is technologically very, very advanced. we should say traditionally it holds about 150 people, though if you go on those low-cost carriers, they can pack in 180. this particular plane had 66 on board, ten of which were crew and security members for egyptair. >> that's right. listen, one of these planes takes off somewhere in the world every two and a half seconds. >> wow. >> reporter: i mean this

the jet liner was going from paris to cairo. s believe it did a 360 degree turn before crashing into the mediterranean sea and they say an act of terror is likely to blame. we have full coverage coming up. >>> the senate has just approved over a billion dollars to fight the zika virus. it's less than the president requested. but much more than what the house agreed to earlier this week. >>> and san francisco's police chief has resigned at the request of the mayor hours after an officer fatally shot a young black woman driving what's believed to be a stolen car. the culmination of several racially charged incidents in the past year. >>> oklahoma lawmakers passed a law that effectively bans abortions by making it a felony for doctors to perform the procedure. doctors could also lose their medical licenses. it's almost certain to face some legal challenges. those are some of our top headlines on this friday, may 20th. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now." >> good morning, everyone. we're going to start this half hou

egyptair on the cairo side is saying they're providing doctors. they're providing translators, all the necessary services. do we know yet what options are available for relatives of passengers on the pa risian side of all this. >> reporter: they've set up a crisis cell at the airport. there's psychological and medical backup for people who wish to go to the airport. the fact is that this flight was in the air for three hours, and anybody that was in the families that saw their family members off is likely to have left the airport and gone home. whether they'd want to come back to the airport to be close for potential news, that's another story. now, president hollande has issued a statement saying that he shares the anguish of the families of the missing, the families of the victims of this crash. we're assuming it's a crash now. we haven't found any debris or not. the french are going to be deeply involved here because the fact is they've got french on board, the 15 french on board acourting to egyptair. but also this is an airbus aircraft, and it

the plane took off from paris at charles de gaulle at 11:09 p.m. time local time. bound for cairo. egyptair said they lost contact with them and it was due to land at 3:05 a.m. so not long to go before it was due to land. that was the plane's final contact with air control. we understand that this was not a distress call. and at that stage the airbus a-320 was about 3:40 into its 4-hour journey not long until it was due to land flying at 37,000 feet as you rightly said. it disappeared after entering egyptian airspace and over the mediterranean sea and the pilot has had more than 6,000 hours of flying time and weather conditions were good. airbus a-320s are regularly used for short haul budget flights and they have a very good safety record. now, i should as released the passenger manifest, no americans on board, french nationals, one britain and as well as a few other nationalities. a major search and rescue operation is under way with teams from egypt armed forces and greece in order to determine exactly what happened to the plane and investigators will need to look at what they fi

the egyptian prime minister has just arrived at cairo airport. 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. this c

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. we know the egyptian air force and navy is involved. they are at the site where the plane was last detected. we know there was an emergency signal of some sorts. we are being told this happened two hours after the plane had disappeared from radar. we heard this from two sources within the egyptian government although the military has come out and said that they did not receive a signal. we are still trying to verify exactly what that signal is. we talked to the vice president of egyptair. he said that signal could have been from the plane after it had gone down. it is possible to detect a signal after a plane ha

the safest phase of flight, the en route phase, probably getting ready to get into cairo, the distancese 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. i

get your red nose today at walgreens. >>> back with live images from the cairo airport. he destination point for egyptair flight 804 with 66 people on board. the plane never arrived. instead, massive search effort taking place right now out to sea in the mediterranean. roughly about 200 miles north of that location. >>> family members both in cairo and in paris at charles de gaulle airport where the plane took off are waiting for answers. 56 passengers were on that flight, 804, flight 804, rather, they checked in before that flight to cairo but, of course, the flight never arrived. >> egyptian official confirming that crashed early this morning in the mediterranean sea and spoke with abc's alex marquardt in paris. >> reporter: just gotten word a short moment ago from egyptair, the airline flying this plane there was a disstress signal that is now being analyzed by the military search and rescue feels and just a signal, very important to differentiate between that and a call. so far there's no indication that any sort of distress call was made. the last aviation authoritie

the day before in baghdad. 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

for the latest, let's bring in ian lee at cairo international airport. ian, we understand you spoken to family members at the command center set up there. what are they telling you? >> reporter: that's right. if you can see behind me, we had family members, dozens coming in behind me, coming to get the latest to find out what happened to their family members and loved ones. what they're telling us right now is that egyptian officials are very uncertain about how the plane went down, but what they are telling them it did in fact hit the water. it crashed into the mediterranean. this is different from the official line we are getting from various government officials saying they are not saying this plane has crashed yet although it is eight and a half hours after it disappeared from radar. right now, the main focus is on the strip of water 175 miles north of the egyptian coastline. that's where we have the egyptian military searching the area. the navy is out there. the coast guard is out there. they are cooperating with the greeks to find what is left of t

and of course, the same thing is happening in the airport in cairo. i want to go now to charles de galle airport just outside of paris. rafael is there. an associated press reporter. give me the very latest that you're seeing this morning. >> family members are beginning to arrive. we spotted grieving relatives who arrived at the information point about 45 minutes ago. they were ushered away by officials and airport staff. otherwise, the air egypt counter remains empty as it has been all morning, surrounded by journal i haves and members of the airport staff. there's not much more to report. the family members are being taken to an annex site outside the terminal. officials are discussing what to do. >> bits 9:35 or so. your time. an hour later in greek ar archepelago. >> talk to me about the charles de galle airport. with what happened last year with the charles hebdo and then the different cafes there. it is a pretty secure airport. >> it is so. absolutely. the airport is extraordinarily busy airport. just this morning it was full of soldiers. they m

video from the cairo airport shows the distraught mother of a passenger on the the airbus. it swerved in the final moments before crashing, and a sudden turn left followed by a 360- degree movement to the right and dropped 20,000 feet. we do not know in the pilot was in control. all the night left paris and was 175 miles from cairo and it disappeared from the radar. official say the pilots did not san any distress calls but egypt picked up a signal that could have come from the black boxes designed to go off in a crash. >> official in france confirmed they have opened the investigation interest all personnel involved in the flight departure. the weather was clear. the plane was at crewing altitude of 37,000 feet. the crews part is usually the most stable the it disappeared 10 miles inside egyptian airspace. last contact the pilot did not mention any problems. >> egypt justice department said the pilot was very responded and official now saying that terrorism is strongly suspected in the plane crash. >> now, the 66 people on board: 56 were passengers. three were children. th

molly hunter has the latest from cairo. od morning, molly. >> reporter: good morning, kendis and diane. the search is on for wreckage of egypt heir flight number 804.gye charge. after last night's confusion, egy egyptian officials say they'll be cautious about releasing information today. yesterday, there was an announcement gnat wreckage had been found by the greex. the egyptians confirmed that and late thursday night had to walk that back. today, the search operation is the priority. families have been gathering here at the cairo international airport, coming with questions that right now, the officials can't answer. the pain very raw as families from paris arrived last night landing to the news of the likely crash. we spoke with families thursday. nay seem accountability and above all concrete information about the fate of their loved ones on flight 804. kendis? diane? >> our thanks to molly hunter. >>> one man supposed to be on the doomd flight had changed his travel plans at the last minute. he, of course, considers him

temperatures down on the ground in cairo are in the mid-90s fahrenheit. so we're talking the lower 30s celsius. the weather path for halfway, 50% into this flight, the weather really became a non-problem, it's just in the initial first couple of hours, there was a front, you can pick up the circulation right there. there's the front going right over that region. in the first couple of hours of the flight, the last couple of hours, weather was not playing a role as far as we can tell from the satellite imagery and the snow showers are still expected over this region for the next couple of days. not unusual to see storms, tremendously mountainous in this region. rainfall also going to persist a little farther to the south. but as you approach cairo, weather definitely not going to be found in that region. >> don't go anywhere. i want to bring in david soucie, listening to pedrum's weather report about what happened in the area, talk to me. >> every time i hear something else about this thing, it looks more and more bleak, don. >> because of the fact that th

it was heading to the cairo airport in egypt when officials say it disappeared from radar. t now, egyptian authorities tell nbc news that search operations are under way over the mediterranean sea. there's been no immediate indication of whether terrorism was involved in this plane's ts is the bureau chief from athens, greece. what do you know in terms of details? >> well, the greek military has been involved for the start. the plane seems to have disappeared from the radar as soon as it exited the greek civil saviation -- aviation air traffic area and entered the egyptian one, so it was quite close to greek areas. 20 minutes after it vanished from the radar, greek military transport plane was scrambled to the area to start the search. there's also a second plane that's joined it. there are two helicopters on stand by on a nearby island in case they're called on for a rescue and recovery operation. and there's a frigate on its way, should be arriving about now. >> alina, so there was communication with the greek aviation officials there, it was exiting the air space. did the

distraught families at the airport in cairo now desperate for answers. good morning, adrienne. >> overnight, e juptair changing the online logo to black. authorities convinced the most likely cause of this crash is terrorism. so far, no debris has been found from the egyptair flight 804 that went down early thursday morning without warning. within 20 minutes last contact with the control tower, the plane vanished from radar. the spokes person emphatic that recent extremism in france could be to blame. >> the possibility of having a different action or having a terror attack is higher than the possibility of having a technical issue. >> reporter: while the terror connection has yet to be confirm, few answers for those grieving the 66 people on board. >> i am -- tired. um -- >> sorry. >> reporter: prior to paris, the jetliner made stops in two terror hot spots and there is concern about an inside job. >> individuals radicalized to the point of violence works have joined the terrorist organizations who are working in the airport themselves. >> reporter: we'r

the newsroom. we are monitoring developments coming out of cairo and paris. i can tell you in just the last few minutes, the french prime minister wrapped up some brief remarks he made outside the airport. we're currently working on a translation. i'll have that in the next half hour. first, let's take a live picture outside cairo's airport, where we are expecting egyptian air officials to address this matter in the next hour and a half, around 7:00 a.m. eastern time. they will have a press conference outside the cairo airport. let's go to the flight path again. i want to the show you what happened. here's what we know. egyptair flight 804 was headed from paris to cairo when it vanished from radar around 2:30 a.m. egypt time, which is 8:45 p.m. here on the east coast. 66 passengers and crew members were on board. no americans are reported on that plane. egyptian authorities tell nbc news search operations are right now under way over the mediterranean sea. aviation experts say two main theories are being considered at this point. one, that a catastrophic break

. >> the egyptair flight was headed from paris to cairo before it disappeared from the radar around 2:45 a.m. local time. the search is now on for the wreckage of that flight in the sea. the flight had 66 people on board. that's 56 passengers, seven crew members and three security officers. but investigators are still trying to figure out what caused this crash into we have full coverage on this thursday, may 19th. from abc news, this is "world news now." >> good morning on this thursday morning. i'm kendis gibson. >> and i'm diane macedo. we have breaking news for you this morning. new details about the over the eastern mediterranean. >> flight 04 depart olympiad charles defall airport in paris late last night heading to cairo egypt but never arrived. >> an airline official now says a distress signal was received from the airplane's emergency equipment before it vanished from the radar. that's different from a distress call. it did not come from the pilots but the equipment on the plane that sends a signal automatically. aviation officials say they can confirm the plane crashed. >> t

the crash. our correspondent. had forre families cairo the question remains was this an accident or something more sinister? it was an airbus a320. the chances are you have flown on one of these. one of the most common planes on earth. it does have an excellent safety record. this is footage of the actual aircraft that disappeared. this aircraft was delivered to egyptair in november 2003. the captain and copilot were well experienced. let's look at what the radar tells us about the flight itself. have been taking off from paris everything was normal for three hours. greek controller say the pilot is in good spirits when they speak to him. after that, radio calls go unanswered. controllers raise the alarm. the plane had dropped off the radar. it made a 90 degree turn to the left and then 360 degree turn to the right. the picture we had was lost. >> this is why terrorism cannot be ruled out. a russian airliner was brought down over egypt last year. it is believed a group linked to the islamic state smuggled a bomb on board. the egyptair pla

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 en route 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 just over 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 automatic signal. the a-320 -- [ inaudible ] egyptair says there were 56 passengers on board including -- >> we're going to hopefully get a

the jet was en route to cairo from paris when it hit the peer.als are saying the plane crashed into the sea. egypt air said to hold a news conference momentarily and we will take you there live. here is what we know now. the flight had 66 passengers on it including crew, including one child, two infants, none of those passengers american. egypt air said the planes and an emergency signal two hours after it disappeared from radar. some greek residents and a merchant ship captain reportedly saw a fire in the sky as if something had happened in the final minutes. greece's defense minister providing new details saying moment ago the last images of the jet on radar show it made sudden swerves in egyptian airspace. we will global market action in asia overnight. mixed performances, fractional story there. in your we see declines across the board. travel related companies being hit hard. that is on the downside. we see the s&p down 200 points. the cac quarante in paris and dax in germany between 1/2% and 1%. in the us we are seeing more of an impact fro

that's where the plane left headed to cairo last night. it vanish the over the mediterranean sea. an update coming up at 6:30. >>> plus, an officer is accused of attacking a woman after a traffic stop and destroying the evidence. we'll tell you how the officer is being punished. pat toomey started his career as an investment banker. then, a wall street wheeler-dealer overseeing stock trades in new york, london and tokyo. next, toomey moved to hong kong to work with wealthy chinese investors. in the senate, it's no surprise toomey's been siding with wall street. voting to allow banks to continue making the risky investments that wrecked our economy. afscme people is responsible for the content of this ad. >>> a south jersey county is crediting an app with helping to save lives. it's called pulse point. it's being used right now in burlington county. nbc 10's matt delucia is live for us with more on this life-saving app. matt, it's not just about downloading. there's something else that's very important that you need to do. >> reporter: a very important thing, vai. that's cpr. this

on the way from paris to cairo. we are covering the story only the way cnn can. 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

local time, the plane took off from paris to cairo. it entered greek air space and then south of athens, the pilot was cheerful and changed the traffic controllers. 2:27 a.m., the first sign something was wrong, despite repeated calls from air traffic control, the pilots did not respond. then, just two minutes later, the plane's signal dropped from radar. at some point after initially losing contact, a greek official says the aircraft took a precipitous drop in altitude, from 37,000 to about 10,000 feet. in the 24 hours before its disappearance, the plane had stopped in cairo, in tunisia, back to cairo and then to paris. >> in each and every destination that you have mentioned where the aircraft was stopped, it was checked. >> reporter: according to a u.s. official, that included a security sweep at the paris airport. >> would that have picked up any kind of a bomb? >> the presumption is yes but now we have a device inside a soda can in sanaa that prior to that would not have been picked up by the detection system. >> reporter: for that

this flight disappearing at 2:45 in the morning local time, cairo time. it's now been missing for nearly four hours. we've just gotten an update on the number of people on board. 56 passengers, one child, two infants, seven crew members, three security personnel. it's an airbus 320 known as the workhorse of the airbus system. a very highly used plane around the world really with a very strong safety record. it was at 37,000 feet, at cruising altitude, when it disappeared. again, no mayday call, no communication from the crew whatsoever. so the question obviously, what happened? how did this plane simply disappear from radar? we understand that french officials have not yet spoken, but they are gathering an emergency response team at the paris airport where this flight departed. that is where they will be receiving family members and talking to people who are looking for information about passengers who were on board that plaeng. again, 56 passengers on board that plane. and obviously an investigation in cairo as well. this is the state-owned airline, egypt

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 sh

near the end flight and a half hour before landing in cairo, it vanished. the greek defense minister says his country's radar showed the plane erratically terning left and making a circle to the right. the jet line her flowntom terror spots before paris. >> if it turns out this is a bomb you have to look at the security for all the flights. >> a u.s. military aircraft is helping in the search and tsa remains on high alert for u.s.-bound international flights. >> flights that the originalnate from charles de gaulle bound for the united states are subject to additional screening. american passengers can take confidence from that. >>> but the emotional roller coaster continues for the victims' families. earlier reports from egyptian government officials that wreckage had been found were false. this man changed his flight or he would have been on ms-804. >> i am really lucky, he said. the fbi and white house are monitoring the situation. we're told.s images and the backgrounds of all on board that flight. kendis and diane. >> thanks to kenneth there. >>> so far,

that's one of the great fears for cairo and egypt. and egypt is going to great lengths to say do not rush to conclusions despite the fact that the prime minister, the french prime minister said everything is on the table. and the french have already offered their condolences to the egyptians, which does indicate that they believe this plane has definitely gone down. so the search operation taking over now. they have hercules airplanes in the air, they have a number of ships heading to the area desperately hoping to find either survivors or possibly the black box. that's all we know at the moment, the desperate search going on trying to piece together the important minutes in the air between the possible distress signal and the disappearing off the radar. but this is a significant point which suggests there may be foul play. back to you. >> thank you for that report. according to the european papers this morning, the captain of "merchant ship" saw what he described as a flame in the sky. >> that's right. but it is a busy sea space. you

the cairo airport have been moved to terminal one. an emergency team on site. they will be distraught at the moment. but no word out of paris at the moment. the egyptian country relies on tourism. this will hit it hard. frankly isis thrives off of this kind of tragedy. even if it wasn't terrorism it will be catastrophic for tourism. >> the area has been on high alert, as well. >> that's right. egypt and neighboring libya which has been in the headlines recently. many u.s. officials say libya is graver concern than some over countries in the middle east. the sinai peninsula is a hot bed of terrorism. this plane was off the coast. we are not speculating it was a surface-to-air missile at all but the area is known for jihadis and it will be another nail in the coffin for their economy. >> what i understand, there have been no specific threats. no specific concern as to when this flight took off. there's been no claim of responsibility at this hour. >> that's right. nothing at all. this specific plane's fifth flight of the day. it was during a normal run. the paris

the flight originated on heavily flown routes from paris to cairo and in the final few 45 minutes to an hour of flight that the plane was apparently lost. you know that the navy is responding. the egyptian navy is responding as is the greek navy. but jose, in a situation like this, the stakes here, as you expect, are very, very high. and the conditions here very concerning because it is not normal that you simply have a plane lose all communications like that and go down in the ocean. if you give me a second, i need to re-establish my communications so i can hear you. >> tom costello. that is the nature of live audio. there are issues he just brought thaup are important to under line right now. 37,000 feet is the average altitude of an a-320 that is flying in this route from paris to cairo. it left from charles de gaulle airport. no indication of problems on board. tom, you talked about 37,000 feet. it's the first thing i thought about when a plane disappears from radar screen. no distress call. 37,000 feet. it sounds like an average routine flight from paris to cairo that happens da

the surge. a live shot from cairo, 1:36 p.m. ed. 66 passengers on board including small children. a quick break. stay with us for more continuing coverage. it's not something you do now and then. or when it's convenient. it's using state-of-the-art simulators to better prepare for any situation. it's giving offshore teams onshore support. and it's empowering anyone to stop a job if something doesn't seem right. at bp, safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better. at bp, safety is never being satisfied. bounce back like...d ...it used to? neutrogena® hydro boost water gel. instantly quenches skin to keep it... ...supple and hydrated... ...day... ...after day. with hydrating hyaluronic acid, which retains up to 1000 times its weight... ...in water. this refreshing water gel... plumps skin cells with intense hydration and locks it in. for supple, hydrated skin that bounces back. hydro boost... from neutrogena®. see what's possible. when shoppers add an item to their jet carts, they automatically shrink the prices

once they located the debris, and find the fuselage, then they get the black boxes. >> 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

. >> the egyptair flight 804 was heading from paris to cairo before disappearing from radar. the search is on for the wreckage at this hour in the med ter and ian sea. 66 people on board. it's unclear what caused that crash. we have full coverage on this thursday, may 19th. >>. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now." >>> good morning, everyone. i'm kendis gibson. >> and i'm diane macedo. we, of course, begin with the breaking news. new details now about the disappearance of an egyptair jet over the mediterranean sea. >> our abc correspondent alex marquardt is on his way charles de gaulle airport where this flight took off about 11:59 local time six hours ahead of the east coast. 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 resc

over the area with cairo. again, an area that has been not the most pure. where the first process goes. folks to deal in national security, first up thought okay. is this terror? is it something taken down by radio? by somebody on board? there are folks looking at the possibility. there is a lot of concerns. we've been told that. and with one of us saying they're very concerned in the area. due to just influx of the shoulder-fired rockets. >> one of our aviation experts mentioned if there is a terrorist event they want it to make a big impact and his thoughts were this is a small plane, not a lot of people on board. if there was anyone of note, it could be a target that that might change that. what are your thoughts on that? >> if it was, hypothetical, i do agree there is a strong likelihood they'll find it quickly because of a different situation. and in this case they'll have an idea. the question does become the fact is it could have been terror. now, i disagree with the person that said only 69 souls open board. when you're taking down a jet going into

the flight out of paris, at 11:09 p.m., 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, n

the last few minutes. 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