At a press conference in Paris, French President Francois Hollande says that all the information gathered so far indicates that flight MS804 crashed - but, he says, no hypothesis as to the cause has been ruled out

"The information we have gathered - ministers, members of government and, of course, the Egyptian authorities - confirm, sadly, that it has crashed. It is lost."

BBC Monitoring

Dominique Grizet, a specialist crime reporter for France's BFMTV, says that the French inquiry into the circumstances preceding the crash of EgyptAir flight MS804 "will begin by hearing statements from all those who came near the plane - the airport staff, baggage handlers who loaded the luggage inside the plane... 

"The lives of all those people who had anything to do with that plane which spent an hour in Roissy [Charles de Gaulle airport] will be delved into."     

Image source, EPA

Speaking at Cairo airport, Mr Ismail also referred to the question of whether a distress signal from MS804 had been received by the Egyptian military. He said:

Image source, PA

The disappearance of EgyptAir flight MS804 over the eastern Mediterranean follows a troubled period for the airline, and more broadly for Egyptian air travel and tourism.

Here is some background on the company - and the recent struggles Egypt has encountered.

Image source, AP

He added:

EgyptAir said there were 10 crew members on board. There are indications some of them were members of the Egyptian security services.

In the 24 hours before it disappeared, the Airbus plane, registration SU-GCC, had carried out three other trips: a return trip from Cairo to Tunis, and then the flight from Cairo to Paris.

According to data from FlightRadar24, external, in the week before it had also flown to Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, as well as Brussels, Beirut, Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait City, Athens, Luxor, Alexandria and Casablanca.

We've received this update from the Greek embassy here in London on the role Greece is playing in the search operation.

"Greece participates in the rescue operation underway in the sea region 130 nautical miles southeast of Karpathos, after an EgyptAir aircraft vanished from the radar screens early on Thursday.

"The Greek Armed Forces have deployed a military C-130 aircraft and one early warning aircraft EMB-145 H. Another C-130 is also heading to the area as well the frigate Nikiforos Fokas. A helicopter (1 Super Puma) is also on its way."

• 23:09 Cairo time (22:09 BST): flight MS804 leaves Paris Charles de Gaulle airport
• 02:27 Cairo time (01:27 BST): last signal picked up by Greek air traffic control, according to Reuters
• 02:30 Cairo time (01:30 BST): Egypt loses contact with flight
• 03:15 Cairo time (02:15 BST): plane had been due to arrive in Cairo

There are contradictory reports as to whether the plane sent a distress signal. EgyptAir initially said this was the case, and that a signal was received by Egypt's military at 04:26 Cairo time (03:26 BST), almost two hours after the flight disappeared.

However, Egypt's military later said no signal was received.

Egypt's foreign ministry has put out a statement in which it refers to the "falling" of the plane: the first real indication from Egypt that flight MS804 might have come down.

It says that the Egyptian and French foreign ministers exchanged condolences, and agreed to co-operate on investigating what happened.

So far, there has been no comment by Egypt's president or prime minister.

Earlier, a statement by Airbus, external referred to the "loss" of the plane.

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 so-called Islamic State (IS) planted a bomb that brought down a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai.

IS has 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 on board, 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.

Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy urges media outlets and people not to "jump to conclusions" on what's behind the disappearance of EgyptAir flight MS804.

"I hope we do not jump to conclusions and assuming reasons and to stick to the press releases of EgyptAir," he said. 

Speaking to state-owned Channel One TV, Mr Fathy said: "Until now this is a disappearance incident. Some plane accidents took years to know the reason behind the incident."

Image source, European Photopress Agency

If you're just joining us, here is the latest news on flight MS804:

• The Airbus A320 was travelling from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared from radar at around 02:30 Cairo time (01:30 BST)

• It was some 16km inside Egyptian airspace when it went missing, and was about half an hour from landing
• The last contact with the plane showed it was over the Mediterranean, to the south of the area between the islands of Crete and Cyprus
• EgyptAir says there were 56 passengers on board - 30 Egyptians, 15 French and 10 other nationalities, including one Briton
• There were also 10 crew members on board
• EgyptAir says a distress signal was picked up by the Egyptian military, who said this was not the case
• Anyone concerned can call 0800 7777 0000 from any landline in Egypt and +202 259 89320 from any mobile phone or from outside Egypt

You can read more on what we know so far in this article

Image source, Crown Copyright

The UK's Royal Navy says it is making contingency plans to help in the search for the missing EgyptAir plane. RFA Lyme Bay, RFA Cardigan Bay and HMS Enterprise are all in the region and ready to help if requested.  

It now appears the flight disappeared a little earlier than was previously reported - at 02:30 Cairo time (01:30 BST).

This is what Airbus, the plane's manufacturer, said in a statement, echoing the most recent comments by EgyptAir.

BBC correspondent Quentin Sommerville tweets: