An EgyptAir flight reported missing between Paris and Cairo has crashed, French President Francois Hollande confirmed.
The Airbus A320 with 66 people on board disappeared from radar at 02:30 Cairo time (00:30 GMT), soon after leaving Greek airspace.Greece's defence minister says Flight MS804 made "sharp turns" and plunged before dropping off the radar.
A major search is under way in seas south of the Greek island of Karpathos.
Greek and Egyptian armed forces are involved in the effort, and France has offered to send boats and planes.
"We will draw conclusions when we have the truth about what happened," he said.
"Whether it was an accident, or whether it was - and it's something that is on our minds - terrorism."
There were 56 passengers - including three children - seven crew members and three security personnel on board. They included 30 Egyptians, 15 French citizens and a Briton.
EgyptAir said the plane had been flying at 11,300m (37,000ft) when it disappeared from radar shortly after entering Egyptian airspace.
Aviation officials in Greece said earlier that air traffic controllers had spoken to the pilot a few minutes earlier and everything had appeared normal.
But Greece's Defence Minister Panos Kammenos told a news conference that soon after entering Egyptian airspace, the plane had turned "90 degrees left and 360 degrees to the right" before plunging.
Image copyright Reuters 
Image copyright AP Egypt's state-run newspaper al-Ahram quoted an EgyptAir statement as saying the Egyptian army's rescue and search had received a distress call from the plane at 04:26 local time - which would be around two hours after the flight disappeared.
But Egypt's military subsequently said that no such signal had been received.
EgyptAir flight MS804
Passengers' nationalities
66
people on board - 56 passengers, seven crew members and three security personnel- 30 Egyptians
- 15 French citizens
- 2 Iraqis
- 1 from Britain, Canada, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan, Chad and Portugal
PA
Analysis by Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent
The spectre of terrorism inevitably looms over this latest aviation tragedy.While there is no evidence yet to indicate a malicious attack, it was only seven months ago that the Islamic State (IS) group planted a bomb that brought down a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai.
IS have vowed to continue targeting the Egyptian state and westerners who visit Egypt.
In a different but also malicious incident in 1999 a disturbed EgyptAir co-pilot put a Boeing passenger plane into a fatal dive off the US coast killing all 217 people onboard, though the Egyptian government continues to say it was a mechanical failure.
However at this stage investigators will be keeping an open mind about the cause of the plane's disappearance, including checking the maintenance record of the airframe.
Some of the relatives of those on board gathered at airports in Cairo and Paris to wait for news.
Mr Hollande had earlier spoken to his Egyptian counterpart and both leaders were holding emergency meetings with their top officials, according to reports from both countries.
Aviation analyst Alex Macheras told the BBC that Airbus A320s were regularly used for short-haul budget flights and had "an amazing safety record".
In March, an EgyptAir plane was hijacked and diverted to Cyprus. The attacker later surrendered and all hostages were released.
Source: BBC NEWS
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