During a press conference in Paris earlier he told reporters that current evidence pointed towards the aircraft coming down en route from Paris to Cairo. "The information we have gathered - ministers, members of government and, of course, the Egyptian authorities - confirm, sadly, that it has crashed. It is lost," he said.
A Briton is among the missing, which comprises 10 crew members and 56 passengers, including one child and two babies after the aircraft disappeared this morning (May 19).
However, a cause of the crash is yet to be confirmed with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls believing: "No theory can be ruled out".
In a statement on its Facebook page, Airbus confirmed "the loss" of the A320 aircraft adding that "our concerns go to all those affected" but gave no further details on what may have caused the plane to fail.
It disappeared from radar at 00:45 BST while travelling from Charles de Gaulle airport to the Egyptian captial.
https://twitter.com/EGYPTAIR/status/733129477941788672
Thirty Egyptians, 15 French and two Iraqis have been confirmed amongst the passengers as well as the unnamed British citizen with the FCO tweeting that it is “in contact with the family”.
A Belgian, Kuwaiti, Saudi, Sudanese, Chadian, Algerian, Portuguese and Canadian were also onboard at the time.
https://twitter.com/foreignoffice/status/733218225652174849
According to the airline, Egyptian armed forces picked up an automated signal from the plane’s emergency beacon at 3.26am BST - 80 minutes after the plane was due to touchdown in Cairo although this has been disputed by the military.
Furthermore, state newspaper Ahram reported that no distress call had been made and the aircraft’s last contact was 10 minutes before it disappeared.
Aviation officials in Greece believe the jet fell off their radar minutes after leaving its airspace the head of its civil aviation department Kostas Litzerakis told Reuters, although he said prior to that happening, the pilot “did not mention any problems" while flying over the island of Kea.
This is believed to be the last broadcast from the aircraft as during the transfer to Cairo airspace, air traffic controllers were unable to make contact with the plane.
Greece authorities have joined with Egyptian military search teams to look for the lost jet, deploying a C-130, a frigate and helicopters.
France has also sent boats and planes to aid the search, while vessels near the Greek island of Karpathos have been asked to help.
No wreckage has currently been found.
