The crash of an EgyptAir flight was more likely caused by a terrorist attack than mechanical failure, Egyptian officials say. Aviation minister Sherif Fathy discussed the crash on Thursday while search operations for wreckage continued in the Mediterranean Sea. The EgyptAir flight was traveling from Paris to Cairo. Air traffic controllers lost contact with the airplane when it was near or within Egyptian airspace. Reports say the plane, an Airbus 320, was carrying 66 people, including 56 passengers. Early reports from Greece say possible wreckage may have been seen from the air. The United States is assisting in the search and recovery efforts from the air. Other officials warn that it will take time to find out what caused the crash. French President Francoise Holland spoke to reporters about the incident. “We must ensure that we know everything on the causes of what happened. No hypothesis is ruled out or favored,” he said. Hollande said the French government is in contact with Egyptian and Greek officials to help with the search. Greek defense minister Panos Kemennos said the plane made sudden turns and sharply dropped before disappearing from radar. Aviation experts are warning against speculation about the cause of the crash. They say too little is known at this time to make any judgement. Scott Hamilton of Leeham Aviation Consultancy spoke to VOA. He said it is highly unusual for an airplane to disappear when at an altitude of 11,000 meters. Hamilton said, “It either typically indicates a catastrophic failure, catastrophic emergency of some kind, or as we know from not too long ago, a bomb could go off…But you just have to be cautious and not jump to any conclusions at this point.” He added that search teams “would be ultimately looking for the airplane’s main records and black boxes.” The passengers were from France, Egypt and nine other nations, including Britain, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Passengers from Algeria, Canada, Chad, Portugal and Sudan were among the missing. EgyptAir sent language experts and doctors to the Cairo airport to meet with the passengers’ families. In October 2015, a Russian passenger plane crashed in the Sinai Peninsula. Russia says an explosive device caused the crash. A group linked to the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility. I’m Mario Ritter. Hamada Elrasam and Lisa Bryant reported this story for VOANews.com. Mario Ritter adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Leave your thoughts in the comment section below. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story hypothesis – n. a theory that is not proven but leads to further study favored – adj. preferred, valued more than others speculation – n. ideas or guesses about something that is not known indicate – v. to show altitude –n. distance above the ground, height catastrophic – adj. a disaster, something terrible or extreme conclusions – n. a final judgement based on evidence
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