Egyptair MS804 Crisis Disappearance Mystery Deepens: Baffling Turns, Military Denial

Egyptair’s Flight MS804 disappearance mystery has deepened Thursday morning as mainstream and social media report various possible scenarios that the airline officials urge the public to disregard. Already, getting the “official” story straight is proving to be challenging. A report that a distress call from the plane had been issued has been denied by Egypt’s military.  The aircraft made a sudden, “baffling” 90-degree turn and swerves before losing contact, according to official on Thursday. France’s president says the plane crashed, a statement quickly rebutted by Egyptian officials.

Read MS804 ‘Disappears’ From Radar

Flight MS804, carrying 59 passengers and 10 crew members heading from from Paris to Cairo, disappeared Wednesday evening. Rescue teams are deployed, according to the airline, that is issuing messages to disregard reports from other sources.

Flightradar24′s tracking service shows the plane disappearing from radar over the Mediterranean Sea, less than 400 miles from Cairo, its destination. EgyptAir says the plane was flying at 37,000 feet when it vanished from radar, according to reports. Those reports on Wednesday said it was only 10 miles from Egypt when it faded from radar.

Accounts from Greece, from the last that flight controllers were in contact with the pilot, detailed what the Washington Post calls “a baffling deviation from the flight path.”

Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos says the EgyptAir flight made abrupt turns, suddenly lost altitude, and then vanished: “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.”

For the record, the Post reports:

The Airbus made “sudden swerves” and dropped from 37,000 feet to 15,000 feet moments after crossing from the Greek flight control area into Egypt’s jurisdiction, said Greece’s defense minister, Panos Kammenos.

The first turn was a sharp, 90-degree veer to the east after passing over the Greek island of Karpathos, Kammenos told reporters in Athens. Then the plane made a full circular loop — a “360 degree turn,” Kammenos said.

“We cannot rule anything out,” Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail told reporters at Cairo’s airport.

Conflicting information exists about whether officials received a distress signal from the aircraft. Egyptair says it did received one from the Airbus A320. According to Times, approximately two hours after it vanished, at 4:26am, the plane emitted a signal. Whether it was automatically sent by the plane or the pilot triggered it is unclear.  Egyptian armed forces, however, later said they were unaware of such a signal, according to the Washington Post.

Flight 804 was on scheduled while crossing Europe. Leaving Greek airspace, the pilot “was in good spirits and thanked the controller in Greek,” according to Greece’s civil aviation agency.

It was last noted on radar about 175 miles off Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria — an area of sea known for fast currents and high winds. French President François Hollande said the plane “crashed,” but gave no more details on what possibly brought down the plane.

“No hypothesis is favored or ruled out at this stage,” a statement from the French prosecutor’s office said about its investigation.

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