He said the plane was about to enter Egyptian airspace when it disappeared from radar.
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“We do not deny there is a possibility of terrorism or deny the possibility of technical fault”, Fathy said.
In 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near the MA island of Nantucket, killing all 217 people aboard, US investigators filed a final report that concluded its co-pilot switched off the autopilot and pointed the Boeing 767 downward.
Another Greek military official told AP that an Egyptian search plane also spotted two orange items in the same area.
Meanwhile, U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speculated Flight 804 disappeared because of “terrorism”, a theory that both French and Egyptian officials have not ruled out.
There was no official indication of a possible cause, whether technical failure, human error or sabotage.
A hijacker also could have tried to commandeer the aircraft, resulting in a struggle in the cockpit. Fallon also reportedly offered up a transport aircraft called the Hercules.
Osman said his brother was on board the EgyptAir flight MS804, which left Paris on Wednesday night, for work. Egyptian authorities blamed an unspecified mechanical failure.
Sixty-six passengers were on board the plance, which was able to carry up to 189 passengers. Earlier, Adel told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that the plane’s wreckage had been found. Egypt’s military was also involved, and France said it had tasked a surveillance plane to help. Shortly afterwards Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault says a crisis cell is being set up at his ministry. There was no message, no signal.
Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, in the US, all luggage going in the hold is controlled, particularly to detect explosives, with the help of more than 150 specialized machines, the authority said. “It is lost”, the French leader said following an emergency meeting on Thursday.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said no scenario could be ruled out at the moment as for what caused the plane to disappear.
Hollande spoke to his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, early Thursday. Afterward, Hollande’s office said the two countries would cooperate to find out what had happened.
Minutes later, Egypt scrambled a massive search operation.
About 15 relatives of passengers arrived at the Cairo airport, and authorities brought doctors to the scene after several distressed family members collapsed. The woman sobbed, holding her face in a handkerchief.
“We stand corrected on finding the wreckage because what we identified is not a part of our plane”.
“Based on the information now available, we confirm that two Canadian citizens are among the passengers on this flight”, Dion stated.
Among the victims: 30 Egyptian, 15 French, one British, one Belgian, two Iraqi, one Kuwaiti, one Saudi, one Sudanese, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Algerian and one Canadian. At least two babies and an older child were on the flight. “Once that process is complete, we will release the passenger manifest”.
Retired U.S. Air Force Maj.
Adding to the families’ anguish were a series of conflicting statements issued by Egyptian and Greek authorities during the course of the day.
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Greek military officials said a Greek C-130 military transport plane is still searching for debris from the passenger plane, but a frigate initially sent to the area has been recalled.
