“It is very, very important to us to establish the circumstances that led to the crash of that aircraft”, el-Sissi said in remarks broadcast live on Egyptian TV.
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We are working hard to salvage the black boxes, which include data and recordings that will help to a great extent in knowing the reasons behind the plane crash.
Smoke was detected inside an EgyptAir plane shortly before it plunged into the Mediterranean with 66 people on board, investigators said Saturday, offering clues but no answers as to why it crashed.
Foreign media reports on Sunday said the pilot spoke with Cairo’s traffic control centre for a few minutes saying there was smoke in the aircraft and that he would make an emergency landing, before the plane disappeared from the radar.
Egypt’s aviation minister has said terrorism is more likely than technical failure without offering any proof, and although most aviation disasters were not caused by terrorism.
Egypt’s armed forces are leading the search, with support from France, Greece, the USA and the U.K. The submarine is a remotely operated vehicle that can detect signals sent out by a black box, former petroleum minister Osama Kamel said in an interview.
This still image taken from video posted Saturday, May 21, 2016, on the official Facebook page of the Egyptian Armed Forces spokesman shows personal belongings and other wreckage of EgyptAir flight 804.
A suspected Islamic State bombing brought down a Russian airliner after it took off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport in late October, killing all 224 people on board, and an EgyptAir plane was hijacked in March by a man wearing a fake suicide belt.
A senior Egyptian official said workers at Cairo airport who came into contact with the plane before it disappeared are being investigated as part of standard procedure, the Journal reported.
There were also citizens of Britain, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Chad, Portugal, Algeria, Kuwait and Canada on board, including two babies and one child.
The minister, Sherif Fathy, said in an interview with NBC News that it was “way too early” to speculate what brought down Flight 804 because not enough of the doomed jetliner has been recovered.
If effective, the manoeuvre can clear smoke from the cabin – and the suggestion tallies with a leaked report that claimed there may have been a fire in the flight deck.
“The aircraft was on its fifth flight that day so it is at least possible that it might have picked up hold goods destined for Egypt in another country with less comprehensive screening standards”, Mr Smith said.
The plane had turned sharply twice before plunging 6,700 meters (22,000 feet) and vanishing from radar screens early Thursday, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said.
EgyptAir Holding Company chairman Safwat Moslem told AFP the priority was finding the passengers’ remains and the flight recorders, which will stop emitting a signal when the batteries are exhausted.
“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. Families were asked to provide as much information as possible to identify the body parts.
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Coptic women during a funeral mass for Egyptair flight victims.
