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Greek and Egyptian Rescue Crews Searching for Missing EgyptAir Plane; Egyptian Aviation Official Believes Plane Possibly Crashed Into the Sea. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired May 19, 2016 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] ERROL BARNETT, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: We want to welcome those of you tuned in from here in the States and those of you watching from all around the world. I'm Errol Barnett.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: And I'm Rosemary Church.

We are following breaking news on missing EgyptAir Flight 804.

BARNETT: Greek and Egyptian rescue crews right now are searching the southern Mediterranean by air and by sea for an EgyptAir plane that disappeared from radar. An Airbus A320 was carrying 66 people from Paris to Cairo.

The airline says lost contact with the jetliner was 280 kilometers, or 175 miles off the Egyptian coast. That's about halfway between Greece and Egypt.

CHURCH: Egyptian aviation officials tell Reuters they believe the plane probably crashed into the sea. EgyptAir says there was a distress signal nearly two hours after last contact.

That timeline is a little murky. We're not completely sure of it. We believe that could mean a distress signal from the plane's emergency beacons. But again, we don't know that either.

BARNETT: And there are widespread implications to this single flight. We have learned the nationalities of the passengers on board. EgyptAir says the list includes 30 Egyptian, 15 French nationals, and two Iraqi nationals. And you see the list also includes passengers from Britain, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Chad, Portugal, Algeria, Canada, and Sudan.

CHURCH: Our Ian Lee joins us now from Cairo, Egypt, where the flight was supposed to land safely. Ian, let's talk about this distress signal. Because it seems to be that we need some sort of clarification.

It now appears that they're backing away from the possibility that this was from the plane. What are you learning on that? IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is where all the question marks

are right now, because this distress signal, we're told, was issued at 4.26 a.m. local time here in Cairo, that the armed forces detected this signal.

But this signal comes almost two hours after the plane disappeared from radar. We talked to the vice president of EgyptAir to clarify about this. He told us that this signal could possibly be from something else in the Mediterranean, a boat in the Mediterranean. He said that it is not certain that it is from the plane.

But he also said that it is possible that after the plane disappeared, if it did crash, that they would be able to receive a distress signal from the plane. So, really, not many answered there. That is what we know. But Egyptian officials are looking into that right now.

The armed forces are scouring the area, looking for any sort of debris, any survivors. That is their main mission right now. But if this distress signal was from the plane after two hours, it could give some hope that there possibly are some survivors.

But at this point we just don't know any more about that distress signal or in that matter, if they found the plane or not.

CHURCH: Yes, it is always such a fluid situation, particularly just matter of hours after a situation like this. A plane goes missing. We don't know what exactly happened. We are trying to piece it together as we go along.

And of course we learned too, in EgyptAir's vice president was saying now that he is not confirming that the plane crashed. This interesting because we heard from some officials that they were assuming that that it had crashed into the Mediterranean. What are you learning about that?

LEE: That's right. And we talked to the vice president just a short time ago. And he told us that they are not confirming the crash, even though we are hearing other reports. But it does seem like this plane would have -- would have crashed by now. It's been almost six hours. It's been six hours since 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're talking to, the vice president of EgyptAir still not going that far as to say that this plane has crashed.

[03:05:10] CHURCH: 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?

LEE: Yes. And I think that's the big thing here, Rosemary. As we need to remember that there were 66 people on board this flight, 56 passengers. There were two infants. There was one child. We've seen some family members here at the airport coming in.

EgyptAir has a hall for them to meet with translators, 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 running high right now.

You do see these family members coming to the airport. A lot of them in tears. A lot of them wondering what's going on. Many of them walking quickly past the press, not giving any comments.

And probably, you know, very distraught and can be justified. Right now, though, EgyptAir trying to assist them and get them the information they need about their loved one, and also need to mention there were 10 crewmembers aboard that plane. Their families also wanting answers as well.

CHURCH: Very distressing situation for people in Egypt and in France and of course other nations all involved in this.

Thank you so much to our Ian Lee bringing us up to date on the situation there from Cairo in Egypt.

BARNETT: Let's cross now to the location where this flight originated, which is Paris. Our senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann is there and can update us on the latest information.

Jim, as is the case in Cairo, surely relatives and friends of passenger on that plane will also be heading to Charles de Gaulle airport there for more information. What can you tell us about the emergency meeting that we understand which is set to get underway?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's already underway, Errol. In fact, this is fairly standard procedure. Basically, it's a way for the president to make sure he is up to speed on what is happening. He gathers his ministers in any kind of a crisis here.

And this is of course a set definition. So that meeting started a half hour ago with the top ministers. We're assuming probably the defense minister, the prime minister, the minister of foreign affairs and others who are gathered at the presidential palace.

And basically, to get everyone up to speed and on the same page as far as their information is concerned. At the airport there's in fact, have been a couple of crisis centers set up. One which is secret. And that's for the families. Its location is not being disclosed.

And it's not clear that a lot of families are gathering because the fact is that these people would have said goodbye to their loved ones three hours before the crash was reported. So, it's not necessarily the case that they would go back to the airport for information.

The other crisis center is for the press and others who might want to talk to the press. And that's been set up at a hotel out there. So, they've got a couple of crisis centers there. There is a center of crisis operations at the foreign ministry with a phone number where people can call if they want to have the latest information from the foreign ministry.

And that, again, is kind of standard operating procedure when there is any kind of a tragedy in the making like this. So, a number of things that are going on here. But basically, they're waiting to see what happens as far as the Egyptian search effort is concerned.

The president, President Hollande, spoke to President Sisi of Egypt earlier this morning. In fact, just a couple of hours after the flight was reported missing and offered to give any help he could as far as the French assets in the Mediterranean are concerned in the search effort.

It's not clear that they have asked for any because the area, as we said in some of the earlier broadcast here, that area is very intensely covered by any number of other navies. So, there may be no necessity for the French to get involved. But they are going to be involved in the investigation, the aftermath of this.

If it's confirmed the plane has crashed. It's still not confirmed from the Egyptian air. But in any case, they'll be deeply involved in the investigation because the fact that there are French people on board, that the plane left from here, and it's a French-made aircraft, an airbus.

The BEA, which is the main accident investigating agency here, not only for aircraft accidents but other kinds of accidents they're going to be heavily involved.

And we've heard immediate reports here that they have teams ready to take off in the next few hours for Cairo. Errol?

BARNETT: All right. And as you have been speaking, Jim, we're looking at live pictures I believe from Charles de Gaulle airport from the press crisis meeting.

[03:10:04] It's 9 past 9 in the morning there. And certainly as people wake up and learn of what's taken place, interest in this will build as the day goes on. But we will certainly gather more information as we get it and share it with our viewers.

Jim Bittermann, live for us in Paris. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. We do want to bring in Geoffrey Thomas now. He is the editor-in-chief of airlineratings.com. And he joins us live from Perth, Australia. Always good to talk to you and get your expert advice on this.

Of course, we're getting information here from our own Richard Quest, our aviation correspondent. He is saying about this distress signal, which is very much front and center right now, he is saying that his best guess is that this is some form of an activated water device or crash device, the Emergency Locator Transmitter, ELT.

Now he said it could be a life raft or perhaps something else that has broken apart from the plane. How important, how critical could this be in the search effort, do you think? GEOFFREY THOMAS, AIRLINERATINGS.COM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Look, the

electronic locator beacon is very important. And there are numerous reports now that the various authorities, various search -- various search authorities -- sorry -- have located this, this beacon, and they're zeroing in on it.

And I think this is where there has been some confusion about the distress call. I don't believe there was a distress call from the pilots. As such, this distress call in fact is an electronic one, which is what they're zeroing on in at the moment.

We're also getting unconfirmed report, and I must stress they are unconfirmed from several sources. In fact, four different sources that there was an explosion seen in the night sky by a couple of merchant ships in the area.

So, the scenario that we are seeing is what we originally thought was the case, that there has been a catastrophic failure of this aircraft. And it has impacted the sea not far from where contact was last lost with it.

CHURCH: When -- when you hear that sort of information coming in, seeing an explosion in the night sky, what do you think in those terms? Because earlier you were thinking that you were eliminating mechanical problems.

THOMAS: Look, yes, I don't believe that this is a mechanical issue. Simply because of the fact that this plane simply disappeared off radar, off military radar, off commercial radar. There was, to our knowledge, no communication from the pilot or co-pilot themselves.

The distress call that we had recently been told about, we now believe that's an electronic distress call from the aircraft's beacons. So the analysis is at the moment, given the information we have, is that this is a catastrophic explosion, and not mechanical.

CHURCH: Right. And we do want to emphasize, of course, to our viewers that these witness reports of an explosion in the sky not confirmed at this point. It's always a very fluid situation as we keep reminding our viewers when we're covering breaking news like this, particularly associated with aircraft going missing and trying to figure out what has happened here.

But talk to us about how you work through that process of elimination, and how you come to your decision that this is a catastrophic situation.

THOMAS: Well, we obviously have been covering this industry for over 14 years. And we have looked at many, many tragedies. We also look at the sources of information. That's very important, as alluded to earlier, with the MetroJet crash in October last year out of Egypt, one of the problems we had was significant misinformation from authorities.

So, you tend to learn that some authorities are very good at disseminating information, particularly when there is only one source of it rather than the military being involved, politicians being involved, the airline being involved. An awful lot of commentators.

When you have one reliable source, you can zero in on that. But when you -- and then on top of that, when you are getting reputable news agency like yourself reporting things, and knowing the great lengths that CNN goes to verify data, we also look that very seriously.

[03:15:04] And so, you get to know which is credible, which is not. And to put to one side these things that possibly, you know, something, some comment from a politician.

And also, one must take into consideration the language issued here. A lot gets lost in translation. And that's something we have to be very careful of...

(CROSSTALK)

CHURCH: Exactly right. Geoffrey Thomas, thank you so much for joining us. We do appreciate it. Errol?

BARNETT: Rosemary, we want to call on Captain Desmond Ross now, he's a former pilot and current principal of DRA Professional Aviation Services. He joins us via web cam from Istanbul, Turkey as we gather some of these details.

Captain Ross, I just want to get your take on some sort of distress signal being detected by Egyptian authorities. We're being careful to confirm exactly what it is because we just don't know. What do you make of that information at this very early stage?

DESMOND ROSS, DRA PROFESSIONAL AVIATION SERVICES PRINCIPAL: Quite right. We don't know exactly. And waiting myself for some further information which I hope to get very shortly. But basically there is three ways of doing it. On the radio, the captain or the co-pilot would say something on the radio, mayday, mayday, mayday, and that word would get out.

The second way is to actually set a code on the transponder, the famous transponder that is such a big issue with MH 370 and still is. And by setting the correct code, a bloom will appear on the radar screen of the air traffic controller telling the controller that that aircraft is in difficulties.

And then the third one is the Emergency Locator Transmitter, or ELT, which is all aircraft are equipped with, must be. And that would transmit on impact, not before that. That is set. So that it transmits when it -- under G force, when it hits the water or the ground or whatever.

One of the problems for those ELTs is that they will go under the water with the aircraft. It won't float at this point in time. And that's actually a failing of the equipment. Because military aircraft are generally equipped with an ELT which will detach from the aircraft on impact so that it would remain floating on the surface and at least then allow search teams to narrow down the location of the crash.

Basically, it's a homing device which a ship or an aircraft would pick up and home in on the location. I'm tipping what that we're seeing here is possibly that ELT. If it was activated on impact with the water, it may no longer be audible because it would have probably sunk with the aircraft.

It's difficult to know. We need to wait and see what happens as the day goes on.

BARNETT: If it was -- that's right. And we're still waiting to get all the confirmed information. But what we do know at this point is there was no mayday made from the plane, that it potentially could be this ELT.

If in fact the aircraft went down in the Mediterranean, our Ian Lee in Cairo says the Egyptian air force, the navy, they are at the location close in the vicinity where the aircraft was last detected.

How much time do you think, knowing what we know about the Mediterranean until they can get a definitive answer as to what this signal is and where it's coming from.

ROSS: Well, there is plenty of shipping traffic out there at the moment, as we all know. I mean, normally there is a lot of shipping traffic. And there is more there at the moment because of the refugee crisis in Europe.

And I firmly believe that somebody will have seen something. I give quite a lot of credibility to those reports of people having witnessed an explosion. So, I -- if that's the case, there is going to be debris on the surface of the water.

So, a few ships out there will pick up something, I would say quite quickly. And I think we'll have more information before this day is over.

BARNETT: It's 18 minutes past 10 a.m. where you are in Istanbul, Turkey. It's 18 minutes past 9 just north of Egypt. We're gathering more information on what this distress signal may have been. But it is clear that this aircraft with 66 souls on board has gone missing.

Stay with CNN as we continue to cover this breaking story.

[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORT)

BARNETT: All right. Let's get you up to speed now on our breaking news. An Egyptian aviation official says a distress signal came from the area in which an EgyptAir flight vanished from radar.

CHURCH: Flight 804 went missing over the Mediterranean sea as it headed from Paris to Cairo with 66 people on board. Conditions were clear and calm when the plane crossed the water.

Reuters is reporting Egyptian aviation officials believe the plane crashed into the sea. Greece is helping the Egyptian military in the search for that plane. And Egypt is no stranger to headline-making incidents involving

planes. Back in November 1985, gunmen hijacked an EgyptAir flight bound for Athens and diverted the jet to Malta. Dozens of passengers were killed after Egyptian troops raided that plane.

BARNETT: Then in October 1999, after a stopover in New York, EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 217 people on board. Investigators later concluded the co-pilot deliberately caused that crash.

CHURCH: And then more recently, a MetroJet flight was downed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board. ISIS claimed responsibility for that, saying it smuggled a bomb on board the Russian plane.

And while this was not an EgyptAir flight, last October's crash raised many concerns about security at Egypt's airports.

[03:25:03] BARNETT: And of course we still have many unanswered questions about this MS Flight 804 at this stage. But earlier we spoke with our aviation correspondent Richard Quest.

CHURCH: Yes. And we asked him about the safety record of EgyptAir.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: There is nothing there that suggests systemic unsafely. That I can see at this early point. One thing I'm slightly -- not concerned about, but I think it's too soon to say, EgyptAir has already come out and said there was nothing on the manifest in terms of the cargo. There was nothing warning the pilots.

If there is something like a large number of lithium batteries or some form of cargo that could either be perishable or dangerous or risky, then there is a NOTOC, the notice to the captain that is given to them before they leave basically saying captain, you need to know this is in the hold.

And what EgyptAir is saying is so far they have no record of that. I think it's too soon, frankly, to be making that sort of judgment, because what happens after an incident like this, Rosemary, is that the airline has to start shutting down all the information systems as it relates to that flight because you now got to collect the data.

So you have to isolate that flight. That means the manifest, the cargo, the engineering, the maintenance records, the fuel delivery, what fuel was on board. Everything about that flight, if you're an airline, you are now isolating that data. You are preserving its integrity for the investigation, and crucially, you are preventing any unauthorized access to that data.

And that's the process that EgyptAir will be undergoing at the moment. It's crucial. Because you're doing it at the same time as you're trying to verify who was on board and make sure passengers are informed.

With MH 370, I spoke to family relatives who told me it was 15, 18 hours after the plane went missing before Malaysia Airlines was able to ring them up and say your loved one was on board.

CHURCH: It is so distressing. But you know, we've got this new information now. We're hearing that routine maintenance checks were performed on the EgyptAir aircraft in Cairo on Wednesday, May 18th. That was before it left for Paris. That's according to an EgyptAir official. What do you think of that?

QUEST: It is -- it is so way too soon to be making that sort of statement. What I'm guessing, then meaning is somebody has gone to the maintenance log and seen, for example, the -- what happened on the walk-around of the aircraft, or that a previous flight might have had something from the minimum equipment list, the MBL that had been repaired, or that the plane had just undergone, you know, a particular check, an overnight check of some sort.

But I caution against giving any credence to these sort of comments because, you know, the people who are putting these statements out cannot in this short period of time have collected all the data necessary to make a statement like that with any definitive authority.

CHURCH: Our Richard Quest, aviation correspondent talking to me just a short time ago. And since then he has sent us some information just on that distress signal that we've been talking about.

He said his best guess is that this is some form of activated water device or crash device, the Emergency Locator Transmitter, the ELT. And he said this will be very useful, of course, in locating this plane.

All right. We're going to take a very short break, but we'll have more for you as we cover the missing EgyptAir 804 on the other side of the break. Stay with us.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back to our viewers from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett. We are following breaking news this hour on the disappearance of EgyptAir flight 804.

CHURCH: An airline official tells CNN a distress signal has been detected in the general vicinity of the plane's last known location, 280 kilometers, that's 175 miles off the Egyptian coast. And it's in the middle of the Mediterranean, about halfway between Greece and Egypt.

BARNETT: Now at this stage, Greek and Egyptian rescue crews are searching the area by air and by sea for any sign of the plane. The Airbus A320 was carrying 66 people from Paris to Cairo, 10 of them crew members, 3 of them security personnel.

The Egyptian security personnel tell Reuters they believe the plane probably crashed into the sea, using those words.

Our Ian Lee joins us now from Cairo in Egypt with more. Ian, I just want to get you some information coming in to us from Greek officials who are saying the Greek air traffic controllers did speak to the pilot of EgyptAir.

The pilot didn't mention any problems at that time. And the plane exited Greek airspace and then entered Egypt's airspace. They then lost touch with the plane two minutes later. Does that match up with what Egyptian officials have been telling you about the plane's last known moments?

LEE: So far that is what we are hearing from Egyptian officials. That if they did not receive any sort of distress signal, a distress call before the plane disappeared from radar.

We do have that distress signal that they received two hours after the crash. They are investigating that. They are unsure what that is from that could be from the plane. It could be from some other ship. It could be a ship in the sea that will put the distress signal.

Right now that is the only distress call that we are hearing about from Egyptian officials. But what we're also hearing right now is that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt is going to convene an emergency meeting of the national Security Council to talk about this plane crash.

[03:34:57] Right now it is important to note that we don't know the cause of the crash. Was it mechanical? Was it terror-related? We just don't know. And so, that is going to be one of the crucial elements as we move forward apart from trying to find this aircraft, find the wreckage, and hopefully, find survivors.

BARNETT: And time is of the essence if this aircraft did in fact go down in the Mediterranean. Our meteorologists are telling us based on weather conditions, a fit human can survive for many hours in the water.

Have officials given you any indication as to how long it will take before they can get a visual on the general vicinity? Of course, if there is an oil slick or debris, that will be key to confirming the crash itself.

LEE: Well, Egyptian officials are telling us that the armed forces are on the site of where they believe the plane disappeared. They are searching the area. They have aircraft as well as the boats searching the area. So they haven't reported back from what they have seen.

But knowing that this plane was cruising at an altitude of 37,000 feet, depending if it did break up, it could be a wide search area. So, it really is going to depend on the final moments of this plane, if it did in fact crash.

Right now, even though this plane has been missing for over six hours now, going on seven hours, an Egyptian official we've been talking to have not called this a crash yet. They are saying that the plane disappeared, that they are searching for this plane.

But six, seven hours after it disappeared without any idea where it could be, it's pretty safe to say that this plane has crashed. Although, Egyptian officials are not yet willing to make that call. The Egyptian officials we've been talking to.

BARNETT: Yes. Everyone just trying to confirm what happened toward the end of this flight. Greek officials saying when they spoke with the pilot, nothing seemed to be wrong at that time.

And as you mentioned, the navy, the Egyptian Air Force are and close to the location where that plane was last detected. So we'll wait for more information. That's our Ian Lee on the phone with us from Cairo.

CHURCH: Well, France's prime minister says no theory can be ruled out regarding the cause of the plane's disappearance.

BARNETT: That's right. French President Francois Hollande and his counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi have agreed to cooperate closely with the information of this missing flight.

CHURCH: All right. We do want to bring in CNN international Jim Bittermann who joins us from Paris. Of course, Jim, we know Paris was the point of departure with this plane. Fifteen French citizens on board. And an emergency meeting being held there in France over this missing EgyptAir flight. What are you learning on all of this?

BITTERMANN: Well, Rosemary, that meeting ended a little bit ago. Basically, in these kinds of cases, it's the kind of thing that the president usually does. He calls in his top minister, the prime minister, the defense minister, the foreign minister, et cetera.

They were at the presidential palace earlier this morning for about a half hour, 45 minutes. Talking over exactly what should be done from their standpoint at this point.

And basically, afterwards, the prime minister and transport minister came out and said that they're going to put the priority on the family, basically, they're going to do whatever they can to help the families of those 15 French who were on board as well as any other families who might find themselves in France.

They've set up a crisis cell at the airport that is secret, away from the press. We're not being told where that is exactly, where they can come and get psychological and medical backup if they wish.

But in fact, these families would have said goodbye to their loved ones about three hours before the plane disappeared. So, they're unlikely to have been at the airport. They might want to go back there, at least to get the latest information.

There is also a crisis cell that they can contact at the French foreign ministry. There is a special number they can call in there if they want to. But that's the priority for the government is addressing the needs of the families at this point.

And they've also gone to some lengths to make it clear to the Egyptian authorities that they're willing to help in any way they can logistically for the search effort that is going on. The French do have a number of assets and military assets. In the

Mediterranean, that part of the Mediterranean. There might be some Egyptian air force planes out in that area that could be put into play if the Egyptians feel it's necessary.

And, of course, they're going to be very involved once they find the wreckage of this plane, if it is a crash that's taken place. The Egyptian air is not confirming that yet. But if it has crashed and there is wreckage found, then the French investigators would be deeply involved because this is an aircraft that was made in France, and of course it departed from France. And they'll want to know exactly what happened. Rosemary, Errol?

[03:40:06] CHURCH: Yes. And still, we don't know very much about what happened. But we're trying to stay on top of this.

Our Jim Bittermann bringing us up to date from Paris where EgyptAir Flight 804 departed.

We'll take a very short break right here. We'll be back in just a moment with our breaking news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARNETT: Welcome back.

Here is the newest information we have for you on our breaking news. Greece and Egypt are looking for the missing EgyptAir Flight 804. Egyptian aviation officials tell Reuters the Airbus A320 probably crashed into the Mediterranean, but the Egyptian PM is stepping away from that.

EgyptAir says the distress signal was detected in the area where the plane disappeared, but it's possible that could be from some sort of water activated or crash device.

CHURCH: The plane was flying at 37,000 feet when it vanished on its way from Paris to Cairo several hours ago. Fifty six passengers and 10 crew members were on board that plane.

BARNETT: Let's bring in our international diplomatic editor now Nic Robertson who is gathering information from London. Nic, the Egyptian prime minister has just told local media that, quote, "there is no confirmed information on the status of MS 804."

And you also have a Greek aviation official saying when they last had contact with the pilot, there was no sign or indication that there was any problem. What does all of that tell us at this stage?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: That last communication was just as the aircraft passed out of Greek airspace into Egyptian airspace. That would likely be the sort of signoff the pilot, the copilot talking to Greek air authorities as they pass out of their airspace being handed off then to Egyptian air authorities.

[03:45:08] We haven't heard from the Egyptians yet about what communications they may or may not have had. As the aircraft came in to their airspace, of course, that would be normal, passing from one, the control of one nation's airspace into the control of another nation, we're going into communication with them.

This was became a problem and was noted during the MH 370 disappearance, that it was in that handover period where things began to go wrong and the aircraft went off course. This of course we have -- we have no details yet other than it was the Greeks as far as we know we know were the last to speak to the pilot or the co-pilot on board that aircraft.

What we're learning from Egyptian authorities, however, at this time does appear to be a little confusing. We had heard reports that there was no distress call made from the aircraft.

Then there the word, the reports that a distress signal had been picked up about two hours after the aircraft disappeared, this was the best sort of analysis of that. This was perhaps an Emergency Locator Transmitter, activated as the aircraft hit the water potentially. That was being picked up.

But now we're hearing that this information is perhaps wrong, that that didn't happen. That the army in Egypt is saying that they haven't released this information, that they haven't said this.

So, this appears to be, and appears to be, and I stress this at this time, you know, the sort of not confusion, but the sort of conflicting pieces of information that become available in the immediate after hours of a situation like this where authorities are grappling to try to nail down the pieces of information that they have.

It appears at the moment, and I stress appears, that Egyptian authorities may be walking back from that earlier statement, that there was some kind of distress signal picked up.

And the best information we could surmise from the information available was that the distress signal was several hours after the aircraft disappeared, possibly a beacon being activated, a locating beacon being activated as it hits the water.

But that's clear at the moment. So, where does the investigation stand at the moment, looking at who was in contact physically with the aircraft while it was on the ground in Cairo before it left to go to Paris. Who was in contact with it on the ground in Paris?

And of course most importantly, who are all the passengers on board? I think one thing that is significant as we analyze the situation is potentially what may have happened on board the aircraft.

We don't know. We absolutely won't know for a long time. But there were three Egyptian security officials on board that aircraft as part of the crew. Errol, Rosemary?

BARNETT: And just to be clear for our viewer, it's 8.47 where Nic is, 9.47 in the morning in Paris and Cairo. And the latest information from Egyptian officials is that they deny reports now that a distress signal was received from the plane.

So, we're just going to move ahead with the confirmed information we have, still efforts to gather more information for you. And the navy and the Egyptian air force are said to be at the last known location of the plane in the Mediterranean.

Stay with CNN as we continue to cover this breaking story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: And we want to update you on our breaking news. An urgent search underway right now for EgyptAir flight 804. It disappeared early Thursday as it travelled from Paris to Cairo with 66 souls on board.

Officials tell Reuters they believe the plane probably crashed into the Mediterranean.

BARNETT: Now EgyptAir says some sort of distress signal was sent from the vicinity where the plane disappeared. But it could have come from another vessel.

The Airbus A320 was flying at 37,000 feet, about 280 kilometers from the Egyptian coast when contact ended. Egypt's prime minister said there is no confirmed information on the status of the plane right now.

CHURCH: And journalist Elinda Labropoulou joins us now from Athens. Elinda, of course, now we know that Greek authorities, they were the last ones to have any communication with this EgyptAir Flight 804 as it moved from Greek airspace into Egyptian airspace.

What more are we learning about that? And also the role that Greece is playing in these search-and-rescue effort underway.

ELINDA LABROPOULOU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You are absolutely right. The last confirmed information that we have in terms of who was the last to get in touch with the plane pilot seems to be the Greek authorities.

From the Greek civil aviation authority, we now have confirmed information that Greek air traffic controllers spoke to the pilot for just one minute before the aircraft exited Greek airspace.

The pilot at the time does not seem to have mentioned any problems. And we believe that this is just standard procedure when the plane access from one country to another. So, nothing unusual there.

It seems that two minutes later after the plane exited Greek airspace and entered Egypt's airspace, the Greek radar lost touch of the plane. And the Greek civil aviation authority has told us that they contacted Egypt as a result. They decided that it was worth contacting the Egyptians civil aviation authority as a result of that after just losing contact with the plane.

So, this so far is the last confirmed communication that we know of. And it may well be the last. There are some conflicting reports about a possible distress signal later, considerably later than that. But that remains to be confirmed.

[03:55:04] So basically, what we don't know is what has happened after this plane entered Egyptian airspace.

At the moment, Greece is working very closely with Egypt. It's taking part in a big search-and-rescue operation. That is underway in the Mediterranean. Greece has sent military aircraft scanning the area. It has sent an early warning aircraft as well. And they have helicopters standing by on an island, a Greek island waiting for more information in order to take part in a potential rescue or recovery operation if there is indeed one.

CHURCH: All right. Indeed. And of course still a lot of confusion relating to that distress signal. Elinda Labropoulou joining us there live from Athens. Many thanks to you.

We will take a very short break here. But we'll have more of that breaking news coverage of the missing EgyptAir Flight 804. We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: And just recapping that breaking news. There is an intense search right now in the Mediterranean for missing EgyptAir Flight 804.

It went off radar several hours ago with 66 people on board. And aviation officials in Egypt tell Reuters the plane probably crashed at sea.

BARNETT: It was flying from Paris to Cairo. And about 280 kilometers from Egypt's coast when it lost contact. One of the most troubling details, it was flying at 37,000 feet when it vanished, generally considered a safe point in any flight.

[04:00:01] CHURCH: We do want to thank you for watching CNN. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett. Stay with CNN. Our breaking news coverage continues right now on CNN's Early Start with Christine Romans and Boris Sanchez.