20 May 2016•Update: 22 May 2016
By Hussein Mahmoud and Rabie al-Sokkari
CAIRO
A number of Arab and western countries have expressed their condolences following the EgyptAir plane crash.
The flight from Paris to Cairo with 66 people on board went missing over the eastern Mediterranean early on Thursday morning after it entered Egyptian airspace, Egyptian authorities said.
The Egyptian presidency said in a written statement that “President Abdel Fattah el Sisi received a phone call from Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who expressed his country’s support and its solidarity with Egypt.”
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also expressed his condolences, stating that the “U.S. is providing assistance in the search effort and relevant authorities are doing everything they can to try to find out what the facts are.”
In a statement published by the Palestinian embassy in Cairo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sent his condolences to his Egyptian counterpart and expressed the “solidarity of Palestine and its people with the families of the victims.”
The Ambassador of the Netherlands Gerard Steeghs said on Twitter, “My thoughts are with all family members and loved ones of passengers and crew of MS 804.”
Secretary-General of the Arab League Nabil Elaraby expressed his “deep sorrow” over the incident.
Saudi King Salman bin Abdelaziz called Sisi on Thursday and expressed his condolences, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.
The Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, sent his condolences to Sisi over the incident, according to the Kuwait News Agency.
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood group published a statement in which it mourned the victims.
The Egyptian Coptic Church said it “mourns the victims of the painful incident.”
According to EgyptAir, there were 30 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, one British, one Belgian, one Portuguese, one Algerian, one Chadian, one Canadian, one Sudanese, one Kuwaiti and one Saudi citizen aboard.
On Friday, Egyptian state TV announced that the army had found the wreckage of the EgyptAir plane 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Alexandria.
