EgyptAir MS804: First images of recovered debris released

The airplane remained missing for more than 24 hours before its debris was discovered by the Egyptian military hundreds of kilometers off the coast of Alexandria.

European Space Agency satellites spotted an oil slick in the area where the flight had vanished – but the organisation said there was no guarantee it was from the plane.

Planes and vessels from Egypt and five other countries – Greece, Britain, France, the United States and Cyprus – are involved in the search.

Initial reports late on Thursday, based on Egyptian officials’ comments that wreckage had been found, later proved unfounded and were dismissed by Greek officials.

The Egyptian military is taking part in the search mission in the Mediterranean.

Greek and Egyptian investigation teams had been searching the Mediterranean for wreckage of the missing plan, aided by French, Turkish and USA military support.

It had turned sharply twice in Egyptian airspace before plunging 22,000 feet (6,700 meters) and vanishing from radar screens, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos has said. But Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi said the possibility of a terror attack as the cause of the crash is “higher than that of a technical error”.

The French aviation safety agency said on Saturday that the EgyptAir flight that crashed into the Mediterranean with 66 people aboard had transmitted automatic messages indicating smoke in the cabin.

Three French aviation accident investigators and a technical expert from Toulouse-based manufacturer Airbus, the manufacturer of the plane, are now in Cairo to help with the investigation. “It’s more likely a fire on board”, he said. A Briton was also among the passengers.

The devices will emit pings for only 28 more days and officials say that to get an accurate signal from those pings, a boat has to be virtually on top of the wreckage.

And as the AP reports, “French aviation investigators have begun to check and question all baggage handlers, maintenance workers, gate agents and other ground crew members at Charles de Gaulle Airport who had a direct or indirect link to the plane before it took off, according to a French judicial official”.

Given the heightened concerns, France’s junior minister for transport, Alain Vidalies, defended security at CDG, saying staff security badges are revoked if there is the slightest doubt. “The authorities have their work cut out with this problem”, he said.

Using one of its spokesman’s Facebook page, the Egyptian army denied it detected any “distress messages” from an EgyptAir flight.

However, there have been no claims of responsibility from terrorist groups, and initial checks of the passengers’ backgrounds haven’t found any connections to terrorism.

The Airbus left Paris shortly after 11pm local time on Wednesday.

An aviation expert said the alerts indicate a blaze had broken out on the aircraft, which was carrying 56 passengers and 10 crew members from Paris to Cairo.