French president confirms EgyptAir flight crashed in Mediterranean

CAIRO (Web Desk) - French President Francois Hollande confirmed that an EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo crashed into the Mediterranean on Thursday with 66 people on board.

The plane fell 22,000 feet and swerved sharply in Egyptian airspace before it disappeared from radar screens, Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos told a news conference.

Egypt and Greece both said they had dispatched aircraft and naval vessels on a search mission and they were expected to be joined by French teams.

Fifteen French citizens were among the 26 foreign passengers on the EgyptAir flight, who also included a Briton and a Canadian.

Read More: Missing EgyptAir flight may have crashed into Mediterranean: Officials

Both France and Egypt have come under attack by jihadists of the Islamic State group in the past year and Hollande promised a comprehensive investigation into the cause of the crash as suspicions swiftly focused on a bomb.

"We must ensure that we know everything on the causes of what happened. No hypothesis is ruled out or favoured," he said in a televised address.