An EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo made two sharp turns before plunging into the Mediterranean Sea, Greece’s defence minister says, the BBC reports.
Panos Kammenos said the Airbus A320 had “turned 90 degrees left and a 360-degree turn to the right” and dropped more than 6,700m before disappearing from radar.
Sixty-six people were on board, most of them from Egypt or France.
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.
Egypt’s Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi told a news conference it was too early to rule out either terrorism or a technical failure as the reason behind the plane’s disappearance.
He said search efforts were concentrating on an area of the Mediterranean near the Greek island of Karpathos, but no wreckage had yet been found.