Egyptian submarine heads for plane crash site in hunt for black boxes

Egypt has enlisted an oil ministry search-submarine in the hunt for the flight recorders of EgyptAir flight MS804, which plunged into the Mediterranean killing 66 people.

The president said it would take time for investigators to figure out the cause of the crash.

Security officials said those procedures would have applied to the EgyptAir plane during short layovers it made at two African airports – in Tunis and the Eritrean capital, Asmara – in the days before the crash. “So please, it is very important that we do not talk and say there is a specific scenario”, Mr Sisi said.

“It has uncovered initial pieces of the aircraft, body parts, belongings of the deceased, and it will continue hopefully until we can ascertain exactly where the plane has gone down”, he told CNN.

The authorities, he said, were “still waiting for the plane’s two black boxes to be found so as to determine the true cause of the crash“.

Egypt’s aviation industry has been under global scrutiny since October 31, when a Russian Airbus A321 traveling to St. Petersburg from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh crashed in the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people aboard.

“Egypt’s aviation minister had said that terrorism was more likely than technical failure, but Sisi said in a televised address that “all the theories are possible“.

“These are not messages that enable us to interpret anything”, said Sebastien Barthe, a spokesman for France’s Bureau of Investigations and Analysis.

The main body of the plane and the two “black boxes” which record flight data and cockpit transmissions have not yet been located.

The warnings came at about 2.26am local time (04.26 GMT) on Thursday, just before air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane.

A representative of an organization devoted to families of French passengers said relatives aren’t sure they can trust the Egyptian investigation and want more involvement from France.

It was bound for Cairo, but disappeared from radar early on Thursday in Egypt’s airspace.

Sisi said a submarine that could operate at a depth of 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) under sea level had been deployed on Sunday to search for the black boxes.

EgyptAir’s security procedures last came under scrutiny in March when a passenger on a domestic flight pretended to be wearing an explosive vest and forced the plane to land in Cyprus.

Search teams have resumed the hard hunt for the flight data recorders of the missing Egypt Air plane as mystery persists over what caused flight MS804 to plunge into the Mediterranean sea killing 66 people.

The recording was released as leaked flight data showing trouble in the cockpit and smoke in one of the toilets brought into focus the chaotic final moments of the Airbus 320, which was on its way to Cairo from Paris.

The first pictures of the wreckage recovered from the sea were also released. “They were dealing with an extremely serious incident”.

In the meantime, he said, “I tell Egyptian and foreign media not to rule out any hypotheses”.

Greece’s lead air accident investigator, Athanasios Binis, said that in addition to the submarine, ships equipped with scanners were scouring the seabed.

The plane was on the ground at four different airports, the Eritrean capital Asmara, Cairo, Tunis and Paris, in the 24 hours before the crash.