A french vessel specifically created to search for black box pings under water is helping with the search.
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The French vessel will conduct a deepwater search in “four or five” areas within the 5 km search zone believed to contain the two black boxes, with the possibility of expanding the zone should nothing be detected, said another of the sources.
French and Egyptian aviation officials have said it is too soon to determine what caused the disaster, although a terror attack on the Airbus A320 has not been ruled out.
The signal came not from the black boxes but from a separate transmitter on the plane, reports the AP.
EgyptAir Flight MS804 crashed in the Mediterranean last Thursday, May 19, between the Greek island of Crete and Egypt’s north coast with 66 people aboard, including 30 Egyptians and 15 French nationals.
Search crews have already made the gruesome discovery of body parts, alongside debris, luggage, and passenger items from the flight, but the fuselage and other major plane components remain unaccounted for. A Cairo forensic team has received the human remains and is carrying DNA tests to identify the victims. Earlier, leaked flight data indicated a sensor detected smoke in a lavatory and a fault in two of the plane’s cockpit windows in the final moments of the flight.
BEA says discussions are taking place over the provision of a second vessel with undersea robotic retrieval capabilities.
One of the companies is Alseamar, which has equipment aboard the French vessel. It is equipped with three specialist probes to speed up the search.
Search teams are working against the clock to find the two flight recorders that would offer vital clues on the fate of flight 804.
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The EgyptAir black boxes are believed to be lying about 3km (1.9 miles) down, on the edge of the usual range for picking up signals emitted by the boxes.
