Xi expresses condolences over EgyptAir plane crash

BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping Friday sent messages respectively to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and French President Francois Hollande, extending condolences over the crash of EgyptAir's Flight MS804.

In the messages, Xi expressed deep condolences to the victims of the disaster and sincere sympathy to their families.

EgyptAir's Flight MS804, en route from Paris to Cairo, disappeared from radar screens on Thursday at 2:45 a.m. local time in Cairo (0045 GMT) with 66 people aboard, including 30 Egyptians and 15 French.

The Egyptian Armed Forces said in a statement on Friday it had found parts of debris from the missing plane in the sea 290 kilometers north of the coastal city of Alexandria.