Plane seats, personal belongings and body parts from EgyptAir’s Flight MS804 have been located in the Mediterranean Sea.
The first wreckage of the missing A320 aircraft was found early this morning, two days after it fell off the radar en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 people on board.
Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry and EgyptAir confirmed the find, saying seats, luggage and human remains were discovered around 290km north of Alexandria, Egypt.
“Egyptian Military and Marine Forces have discovered more debris, passengers’ belongings, body parts, luggage, and aircraft seats.”
EgyptAir statement
French aviation safety agency says EgyptAir flight messages showed smoke on board: AFP https://t.co/7PR7Z5zcDL pic.twitter.com/vEGlrq4u7J
— AJE News (@AJENews) 21 May 2016
Egyptian and Greek officials continue to search for more debris as well as the plane’s black box, which will help determine what happened in the cockpit in the final moments of the flight.
Meanwhile, French investigators along with a plane technician from Airbus have arrived in Cairo to help determine the cause of the crash.
Early investigations suggest smoke was detected in the toilet and in the aircraft’s electrics just before it lost contact with ground control.
Information retrieved from the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) showed that at 2.26pm smoke travelled from the Airbus A320 lavatory through its electronics and to the cockpit. The plane’s signal was lost around four minutes after the initial smoke alert.
An EgyptAir official told media that he believes the aircraft was in good shape before take off.
