CAIRO, May 19 (Xinhua) — A joint rescue team has been deployed to search for the EgyptAir flight which disappeared from radar screens early Thursday, the Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement.

"As the Armed Forces are following the developments of the Egyptian missing plane of EgyptAir, the search is currently underway by searching jets. Egyptian military rescue boats have also been sent, in cooperation with Greece, to search in the place of disappearance," the statement said.

The ill-fated EgyptAir MS840, an Airbus 320, was carrying 56 passengers — 30 Egyptians, 15 French and 11 from other nationalities, plus three security staffers and seven crew numbers.

The plane, which was on its way from Paris to Cairo, lost contact with radar at 2:45 a.m. Cairo time (0045 GMT) Thursday at an altitude of 37,000 feet (11,280 meters) and 10 miles (16 km) inside Egyptian airspace, MENA reported, quoting an official source in the Egyptian airlines.

The airlines said the aircraft commander has accumulated 6,275 flying hours, including 2,101 hours on the same plane model, and the co-pilot has 2,766 flying hours.

The plane, which was made in 2003, left Paris at 11:09 p.m. local time (2109 GMT) on Wednesday night for a scheduled three-hour-45-minute journey.

EgyptAir said it's following the situation through an integrated operation center.