EgyptAir flight MS804 crashed in the Mediterranean on its way to Cairo from Paris, killing all on board including 30 Egyptians and 15 French people.
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Egypt’s aviation minister had said on Thursday that terrorism was more likely than technical failure, but Mr El Sisi said in a televised address that “all the theories are possible”. They have a submarine that can reach 3,000 metres under water.
The main body of the plane and the two “black boxes” which show flight data and cockpit transmissions have not yet been located.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said the search – which has already yielded “pieces of the aircraft, body parts, belongings of the deceased” will continue until the black boxes are found.
However, the black boxes, critical to determine the cause of the crash, remained missing.
“We’re far away from closing in on the fuselage of the aircraft”, he said.
The plane disappeared from radar about 175 miles from Egypt’s coastline after making a sudden 90-degree turn to the left and then doing a full, 360-degree spin to the right, according to Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos.
Flight 804 was carrying 66 people including a British dad-of-two, from Paris to Cairo when it vanished in the early hours of yesterday morning.
On Saturday, BEA spokesman Sebastien Barthe had said that data transmissions from the plane had revealed the presence of smoke in the flight cabin.
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. While it may not reflect directly on security at Egypt’s airports – which has been under worldwide scrutiny since a Russian airliner crashed in the Sinai Peninsula in October after taking off from an Egyptian resort – the country’s association with yet another air disaster will further damage its vital but now depressed tourism industry.
Sinai Province, a local affiliate of the Islamic State jihadist group, said it had smuggled a bomb on board.
Apart from the submarine, ships and planes from Britain, Cyprus, France, Greece and the United States were also combing through the sea off the Egyptian port of Alexandria.
U.S. Navy aircraft participating in the search found two fields of debris this weekend.
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.
The vessel, which has been enlisted from Egypt’s oil ministry, has been sent to search the seabed of the Mediterranean, Egypt’s President said.
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Last week officials said there had been no distress call from the plane.
