An Egyptian army spokesperson says the debris and passenger belongings like luggage were located on Friday morning 290 kilometres from Alexandria.
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“We’re looking at all possibilities, but none is being favoured over the others because we have absolutely no indication on the causes”, he told French television.
Last October, a Russian passenger plane that took off from an Egyptian Red Sea resort crashed in the Sinai, killing all 224 people aboard.
Three French investigators and a technical expert from Airbus arrived in Cairo early on Friday, airport sources said.
“They haven’t died yet”.
It is not yet known what caused the crash.
The aircraft was carrying 56 passengers, including one child and two infants, and 10 crew, EgyptAir said.
It had turned sharply twice in Egyptian airspace before plunging 22,000 feet (6,700 metres) and vanishing from radar screens, said Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos.
“Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation has just received an official letter from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that confirms the finding of wreckage of the missing aircraft No. MS 804 near Karpathos Island”, the airline said in a statement.
A European satellite spotted a 2 km-long oil slick in the Mediterranean, about 40 km southeast of the aircraft’s last position, the European Space Agency said.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had demanded an “intensified search” after the airline retracted a statement that wreckage had been found.
Kammenos said Greece could not speculate on the reasons the aircraft crashed.
“The passengers on the EgyptAir flight that plunged into the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday included a French rock “n” roll photographer who considered skipping the flight; a Portuguese engineer and father of four; and a couple in their 40s from Angers, in western France, according to their families and local news reports”.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian top prosecutor has ordered an urgent, comprehensive investigation into the disappearance.
IS has been waging a deadly insurgency against Egyptian security forces.
No militant group has so far claimed responsibility of any sort of attack on the Airbus 320.
Commander Marius Tzannis, the deputy spokesman of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff, told CNN that a Greek frigate was pulled out of the search Friday. Thus far, the main suspicion is a terrorist attack, especially given the lack of communication and the way the plane went down.
Later in the day, his likely Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, also said it appeared to be an act of terrorism, although she said an investigation would have to determine the details.
Greek, Egyptian, French and United Kingdom military units have been taking part in a search operation near Greece’s Karpathos island.
The pilots sent no emergency signal, and their final contact with controllers revealed no signs of distress.
Litzerakos said that if there had been an explosion, any debris would have been scattered across a wide area. Two women and a man, who said they were related to a crew member, were seen leaving the VIP hall where families were being kept.
Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion says two Canadians were on board but it is unclear if the second Canadian was a passenger or a crew member and whether that person had dual citizenship. It had around 48,000 flight hours.
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An EgyptAir plane was hijacked and diverted to Cyprus in March.
