Greece Deploys Ship, Aircraft to EgyptAir Search

Greece is deploying military aircraft and a frigate to an area in the southern Mediterranean where an EgyptAir aircraft vanished from radar screens early on Thursday, its defence ministry said.

The search for the missing EgyptAir plane was taking place at sea, about 130 nautical miles southeast of the island of Karpathos, the Greek defence ministry said.

"One C-130 aircraft and an early-warning EMB-145H plane are already operating in the area. Another C-130 plane is on standby at Kasteli airport on the (southern Greek) island of Crete," Greece's military command said.

A civil aviation source said the operation was conducted in an area between Greek and Egyptian airspace.

The navy frigate Nikiforos Fokas was sailing to the area and two helicopters were ready to operate from Karpathos, it said.

A defence ministry source said authorities were also investigating an account from the captain of a merchant ship who reported seeing a "flame in the sky" in the area. (Reporting by George Georgiopoulos and Michele Kambas