An EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo disappeared from radar early Thursday morning, carrying 10 crew members and 56 passengers, including a Canadian, and presumably crashed into the Mediterranean Sea.
Speaking from Paris Thursday afternoon, French President Francois Hollande confirmed the plane had crashed saying no hypothesis has been ruled out.
“When we have the truth we need to draw all the conclusions,” Hollande said. “At this stage, we must give priority to solidarity toward the families” of the victims.
WATCH: Terror attack likely downed jet, officials say.
Here’s a timeline of events. (All times are local Egyptian times. Cairo is six hours ahead of Eastern Time )
Wednesday, May 18 11:09 p.m.
EgyptAir Flight MS804 took off from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, carrying 56 passengers, including a Canadian, and 10 crew members.
Thursday, May 19 1:24 a.m.
Citing a timeline provided by Greece’s civil aviation department, Reuters reported Flight MS804 entered Greek airspace.
1:48 a.m.
The flight was cleared to exit Greek airspace, and “the pilot was in good spirits and thanked the controller,” Reuters reported.
2:27 a.m.
Athens air traffic control attempted to reach the aircraft on multiple occasions to inform the crew of a switch in communications control from Athens to Cairo, according to Reuters. The aircraft failed to communicate.
2:29 a.m.
Flight MS804 exited Greek airspace.
2:45 a.m.
Citing an informed source, EgyptAir said it had lost communication with radar tracking of the A320 Airbus. The flight was at a height of 37,000 feet and disappeared after entering Egyptian airspace, the company said in a statement. The flight vanished within 16 kilometres of entering Egyptian airspace.
6:50 a.m.
Airbus issued a statement saying the company was aware of media reports of the plane’s disappearance. “At this time we have no further details, but we will provide further information when available.”
WATCH: Aerial graphic shows size, scale of maritime search for missing EgyptAir flight
6:55 a.m.
Egypt’s state-run newspaper, quoted an airport official as saying that the pilot had not sent a distress signal before the plane disappeared early Thursday. The last contact with the plane was 10 minutes before it vanished.
7:40 a.m.
EgyptAir confirmed 56 passengers and 10 cabin crew members were onboard the aircraft. Among the passengers are: 15 French nationals, 30 Egyptians, 1 Briton, 1 Belgian, 2 Iraqis, 1 Kuwaiti, 1 Saudi, 1 Sudanese, 1 Chadian, 1 Portuguese, 1 Algerian and 1 Canadian.
8:30 a.m.
Egyptian aviation officials confirmed the flight had crashed and a search for debris is underway. The officials spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
WATCH: Egypt PM says no cause ruled out for EgyptAir crash
9:35 a.m.
Egypt’s state news agency quotes Prime Minister Sherif Ismail as saying he can’t “rule out” any possibility when asked whether a terrorist attack is behind the missing plane. He said there was no “distress call” but there was a “signal” received from the plane.
10:12 a.m.
Plane-maker Airbus confirms “the loss of an EgyptAir A320 Flight MS804. Our concerns go to all those affected,” the company said in a statement. “Airbus will make further factual information available as soon as the details have been confirmed and cleared by the authorities for release.”
10:35 a.m.
Airbus says the missing flight was delivered to EgyptAir in 2003 and had logged 48,000 flight hours. The company said in a statement that the plane had engines made by Swiss-based engine consortium IAE, and had the serial number 2088.
10:45 a.m.
France diverts a military jet monitoring the Mediterranean for migrants to assist in the search for the missing plane.
WATCH: Relatives of missing EgyptAir passengers desperate for answers
12:15 p.m.
The Paris prosecutor’s office opens an investigation into the disappearance of Flight MS804.
12:35 p.m.
Hollande confirms the crash of the EgyptAir flight and said no hypothesis is ruled out or preferred, including terrorism.
“When we have the truth we need to draw all the conclusions,” the French president said. “At this stage, we must give priority to solidarity toward the families” of the victims.”
1:05 p.m.
Citing Greece’s defence minister, the Associated Press reported the flight made abrupt turns and suddenly dropped in altitude before disappearing from radar.
“It turned 90 degrees left and then a 360-degree turn toward the right, dropping from 38,000 to 15,000 feet and then it was lost at about 10,000 feet,” the news agency quoted Panos Kammenos as saying.
2:40 p.m.
Speaking at a press conference, Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi said he doesn’t believe the plane’s disappearance was a result of a “technical failure.”
“The situation may point, and I say ‘may’ because I don’t want to go to speculations, I don’t want to go to assumptions like others,” Fathi said. “But, if you analyze the situation properly, the possibility of having a different action, having a terror attack is higher than the possibility than having a technical failure.”
3:00 p.m.
Citing Russian news agencies, the Associated Press reported the head of Russia’s domestic security agency said the crashed jet was “in all likelihood a terror attack.”
3:40 p.m.
A Greek military spokesman told Agence France-Presse news agency, possible wreckage was found off the Greek island of Crete.
“There have been finds southeast of Crete, inside the Cairo flight information area,” the news agency quoted general staff spokesman Vassilis Beletsiotis as saying.
5:35 p.m.
EgyptAir said it was in contact with authorities and could not confirm wreckage was found off the coast of Crete.
5:45 p.m.
The Associated Press spoke to an expert on aerospace systems and emerging weapons technologies at the University of Notre Dame, who said that it is unlikely a structure failure was behind the downing of the EgyptAir flight.
“Sabotage is possible, and if there were lax controls at airports and loose hiring and security policies, increasingly likely,” retired Maj. Gen. Robert Latiff told the news agency.
6:55 p.m.
EgyptAir confirms wreckage found is that of crashed Flight MS804.
“Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation has just received an official letter from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that confirms the finding of wreckage of the missing aircraft No. MS 804 near Karpathos Island,” the airline said in a statement. “EgyptAir sincerely conveys its deepest sorrow to the families and friends of the passengers onboard Flight MS804.
“Family members of passengers and crew have been already informed and we extend our deepest sympathies to those affected,” the airline said.
7:35 p.m.
EgyptAir confirmed to Global News the lone Canadian on board was a passenger named Marwa Hamdy. The airline did not provide the passenger’s age or hometown.
8:00 p.m.
In a statement, Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion said “based on the information currently available, we confirm that two Canadian citizens are among the passengers on this flight.”
“We are providing consular assistance to the families and Canadian officials are working closely with the authorities to confirm whether there were any additional Canadian citizens on board,” the minister said in the statement.
Global Affairs Canada did not release the names or hometowns of the Canadian citizens.
11:00 p.m.
Late Thursday evening, EgyptAir retracted a previous statement claiming possible wreckage was found off the Greek island of Crete.
“We stand corrected,” airline vice-president Ahmed Adel told CNN. It “is not our aircraft.”
Friday, May 20 8:00 a.m.
The search for the downed airliner continued in an area south of Crete, 24 hours after radar contact with the Airbus was lost.
9:00 a.m.
French officials said there was still no indication as to what brought down Flight MS804. Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Friday on France-2 television there is “absolutely no indication” of the cause, the Associated Press reported.
11:00 a.m.
The Egyptian army confirmed wreckage has been found. The Egyptian army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Samir, said in a statement posted on his Facebook page Friday that Egyptian jets and naval vessels participating in the search for the missing plane had found “personal belongings of the passengers and parts of the plane debris,” 290 kilometres north of the city of Alexandria, the Associated Press reported.
1:15 p.m.
Greece’s defence minister said Greek authorities have received notification that Egyptian authorities had spotted a body part, two seats and suitcases during their search in the Mediterranean Sea for the crashed EgyptAir Flight 804.
4:15 p.m.
A terror analyst who is in contact with members of the Islamic State group and other jihadist groups says there have been “no credible or even semi-credible” claims of responsibility for the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804.
–with files from The Associated Press
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