Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said on Sunday no particular theory is being favored to explain why EgyptAir MS804 plunged into the Mediterranean, after sending out an automated message signaling smoke on board. The black box records all the plane and engines movements from when the plane is turned on until they’re off or until the plane crashes.
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The submarine, he said, is capable of operating at depths of 3,000 meters (9,842 feet), and departed for the site of the crash on Sunday.
The Airbus A320 was en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 people aboard when it vanished from radar early on Thursday.
Spokesman Sebastien Barthe told The Associated Press that the plane’s automatic detection system sent messages indicating smoke a few minutes before it disappeared from radar.
Egyptian officials, who speculated following the crash that terrorism was the likely cause, have sounded a more cautious note in subsequent days since no militant group has claimed responsibility and Egyptian military units have recovered only bits of debris and human remains from the sea.
“In cases like this we need to wait until we base our judgment on facts”, Fathi said in an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson.
While airline EgyptAir have warned grieving friends and families it could take weeks to recover their loved-ones’ bodies from the sea.
Sisi said that Egypt was jointly investigating the crash with France, saying “it is very, very important to us to establish the circumstances that led to the crash of that aircraft”, but added that it “will take time”. Experts have said definitive answers would come only with an examination of the wreckage, cockpit recordings and the black boxes.
A submarine is joining the Mediterranean Sea search for the black boxes that could reveal what caused the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804. Thank you so much.
Search teams were Saturday scouring the area for more debris from the jet and its two black boxes.
EgyptAir has said via Twitter that the Egyptian Armed Forces have discovered the wreckage and personal items from flight MS804 295 kilometers (183 miles) from the coast of Alexandria. The 10 crew members and 56 passengers included 30 Egyptians and 15 French nationals.
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David Learmount, editor of the authoritative Flightglobal magazine, says “engine overheat is rare but it happens”.
