CAIRO, May 19 (Reuters) - Egypt's civil aviation ministry said in a statement that it was too early to confirm if a passenger plane that went missing over the Mediterranean on Thursday had crashed.

Some media had quoted the civil aviation ministry as confirming that it crashed into the sea.

Aviation officials, speaking off the record, have said that the plane most likely crashed. However, search teams have yet to find any wreckage to confirm this.

Confusion also reigned over whether the missing plane sent a distress signal that was picked up by the Egyptian military. EgyptAir said in a statement earlier that a signal had been received by the army more than an hour after the plane was due to land. The army denied in a statement receiving any message.

(Reporting by Lin Noueihed, Mostafa Hashem, and Asma AlSharif)