Pascal Hess nearly didn't catch EgyptAir Flight MS804 because he had lost his passport.

Hess was among the 66 people, including 15 French nationals, who are thought to have died when the Egyptian flight was lost en route to Cairo on Thursday.

His friends said the volley ball fanatic and photographer from Evreux in Normandy hadn't slept for days because he had been crazy with worry about the lost passport.

"He has not slept for three days, until someone found it in the street," a friend told the local French language newspaper, La Dépêche.

Even then, Hess appeared reluctant to depart.

"It is crazy but he hesitated to leave," someone he knew told the newspaper.

Finally, he flew out of Paris for a 10-day holiday on Egypt's Red Sea.

The 66 passengers and crew included a Procter and Gamble director, Ahmed Helal, who headed the company's plant in Amiens, a French family of four including two children, and a 74-year-old French man, Pierre Heslouin from Nogent-sur-Marne.

The mayor of Amien, Brigitte Fouré and the French Minister Emmanuel Macron expressed their sadness for families of the victims, particularly for those close to Mr Helal.

A British man Richard Osman, 40, had just become a father for the second time with his French wife, Aurelie. His daughter Olympe was about a month old,The Telegraph reported

But news of his apparent loss caused confusion in Britain, prompting a radio host with the same name to clarify that he was still alive.

EgyptAir has yet to release the names of those who have very likely died aboard the flight that was last seen over the Mediterranean.

A father of four, Joao David e Silva, is among those known to have boarded the flight,

CNN reported that he specialises in emerging markets and worked for the Portuguese construction company Mota-Engil. He is based in Johannesburg because of his job although his family lives in Lisbon, a Portuguese government source said.

Associated Press reported that a student from Chad, who was attending a French school, was also among the passengers.

Another was a Kuwaiti man named Abdulmohsen al-Muteiri, an economics professor who was on his way to a conference.

He had also held senior positions with the Kuwait government, including managing the country's investment authority.

Another passenger was identified by AP as an Egyptian who was headed home after undergoing treatment in France.