Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has rushed to blame the EgyptAir flight crash as an act of terrorism.
While the airline urged the media to refrain from speculating about the cause of the crash, Trump weighed in on the crash of the EgyptAir flight that had been travelling from Paris to Cairo, calling it "yet another terrorist attack".
In a Twitter post on Thursday, Mr Trump asked: "When will we get tough, smart and vigilant? Great hate and sickness!"
Read more: EgyptAir plane 'made series of sharp turns and plummeted' before crash
The flight, with 66 passengers and crew on board, crashed in the Mediterranean Sea off the Greek island of Crete early on Thursday morning.
Egyptian, French and Greek officials have launched investigations into the crash but say it is too early to determine whether it was due to a technical error or an act of terrorism.
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Looks like yet another terrorist attack. Airplane departed from Paris. When will we get tough, smart and vigilant? Great hate and sickness!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2016
It is not the first time Trump has blamed an incident on terrorism before officials determine the cause.
Before the San Bernardino shootings in California in December were classified as an act of terror, Trump said that he thought it was terrorism.
"It looks like another case. We've got a lot of bad things going on. Radical Islamic terrorism,” Trump said.
"Take a look. I mean, you look at the names, you look at what’s happened. You tell me."
"I think it was terrorism,” he later added.
A petition advocating a ban on Trump coming to the UK came after his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering US following the San Bernardino shootings attracted 574,000 signatures.
Trump faced an online backlash over his latest comments.
Later US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton also waded in, saying: “It does appear that it was an act of terrorism.”
“Exactly how, of course, the investigation will have to determine,” the former secretary of state added.
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