EgyptAir jet went into a 'sharp spin' and fell 22,000ft before vanishing from radar says Greek defense minister – as air safety chief says crash was 'almost certainly a terror attack'
The EgyptAir plane that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea with 66 people on board went into a sudden spin and plunged 22,000ft before vanishing off the radar, a Greek minister revealed today.
Flight MS804 came down near the Greek island of Karpathos ten miles into Egyptian airspace at around 00.30am GMT without making a distress call.
It departed Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris at 9.09pm GMT last night and was scheduled to arrive at Cairo Airport at 1.15am GMT.
Greek defence minister Panos Kammenos said the Airbus A320 made 'sudden swerves' mid-air, lurching 90 degrees to the left then 360 degrees to the right as it fell out of the sky.
He said the plane dropped from 37,000 feet to 15,000ft before the signal was lost at around 10,000 feet.
The revelation came after a former air accident chief said all the evidence was pointed to the plane being targeted in a terrorist attack.
The 56 passengers on board included one Briton, 30 Egyptians, 15 French, one Belgian, one Iraqi, one Kuwaiti, one Saudi Arabian, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Algerian and one Canadian. There were 10 crew members including three security guards.
Jean-Paul Troadec, the former chief of the BEA national investigation unit, said the lack of a live emergency alert suggested a 'brutal event'.
