CAIRO — The Latest on the disappearance of EgyptAir flight 804 (all times local):
11:00 a.m.
The Egyptian army says it has found wreckage of the missing EgyptAir flight 804, which crashed after disappearing from the radar while carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo.
The Egyptian army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Samir, says in a statement posted on his Facebook page Friday that Egyptian jets and naval vessels participating in the search for the missing plane have found “personal belongings of the passengers and parts of the plane debris,” 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of the city of Alexandria.
The Airbus 320 lost contact at 2.45 a.m. local time Thursday morning.
10:15 a.m.
Egyptian airport officials say that three French and three British investigators and an AirBus technical expert have arrived in Cairo to join the investigation into what caused EgyptAir flight 804 to crash while carrying 66 people bound for Cairo from Paris.
Authorities are continuing to search a wide area to the south of the Greek island of Crete Friday. The plane dropped off the radar while crossing the Mediterranean at around 2.45 a.m. local time Thursday morning.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
8:45 a.m.
France’s foreign minister and a top transport official say there is still no sign of what brought down a Paris-Cairo EgyptAir flight in the Mediterranean.
Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Friday on France-2 television there is “absolutely no indication” of the cause.
The junior minister for transport, Alain Vidalies, said on France-Info radio that “no theory is favored” at this stage and urged “the greatest caution.”
A French military Falcon jet is helping in the search for debris. Vidalies said France could offer undersea search equipment and experts.
Amid fears it was an extremist attack, Vidalies defended security at Charles de Gaulle Airport, saying staff badges are revoked if there is the slightest security doubt.
8:15 a.m.
The search is continuing for missing EgyptAir flight 804, which disappeared from the radar while carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo.
Authorities are scouring a wide area south of the Greek island of Crete on Friday to search for wreckage, over 24 hours after the Airbus 320 lost contact.
The Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos says that the plane swerved wildly before plummeting into the sea.
The Egyptian military says that no distress call was received from the pilot. The country’s aviation minister Sherif Fathi says the likelihood the plane was brought down by a terror attack is “higher than the possibility of a technical failure.”
The distressed relatives of those on board have spent the night in a hotel in Cairo while they await news.
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CAIRO — The search continued on Friday for missing EgyptAir flight 804, which disappeared from the radar while carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo.
Authorities were scouring a wide area south of the Greek island of Crete to search for wreckage, over 24 hours after the Airbus 320 lost contact. France, Greece, Italy, Cyprus and the UK are all supporting Egypt’s search effort, the defense ministry said.
Egyptian airport officials said that three French and three British investigators and an AirBus technical expert have arrived in Cairo to join an investigation into the plane crash.
Late Thursday, a senior Greek air safety official said the debris located so far in the Mediterranean sea — reported to have been “floating material”— did not belong to the missing jet.
Athanassios Binis, head of Greece’s Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board, told state ERT TV that “an assessment of the finds showed that they do not belong to an aircraft.”
It is not yet known what caused the crash.
The Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said that the plane swerved wildly before plummeting into the sea.
The Egyptian military said that no distress call was received from the pilot. The country’s aviation minister Sherif Fathi said the likelihood the plane was brought down by a terror attack is “higher than the possibility of a technical failure.”
Yet France’s foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault asserted Friday on France-2 television that there is “absolutely no indication” of what caused the crash.
The junior minister for transport, Alain Vidalies, said on France-Info radio that “no theory is favored” at this stage and urged “the greatest caution.”
Amid fears the plane was downed by an extremist attack, Vidalies defended security at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport, saying staff badges are revoked if there is the slightest security doubt.
Families of the victims spent the night in a hotel in Cairo while they awaited the news of their loved ones. Egyptian officials said some arrived from Paris late Thursday, among them eight French relatives of the 15 French passengers on board the missing jet.
The Egyptian officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
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