An EgyptAir Airbus A320 with the registration SU-GCC taking off from Vienna International Airport, Austria. Egyptian aviation officials said on Thursday May 19, 2016 that an EgyptAir plane with the registration SU-GCC, traveling from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board has crashed off the Greek island of Karpathos.
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Article posted by: White Nation correspondent Johannesburg– May 20 2016
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EGYPT
The search continued on Friday for missing EgyptAir flight 804, which disappeared from the radar while carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo. Authorities were scouring a wide area south of the Greek island of Crete to search for wreckage, over 24 hours after the Airbus 320 lost contact. France, Greece, Italy, Cyprus and the UK are all supporting Egypt’s search effort, the defense ministry said.
Egyptian aviation officials said on Thursday May 19, 2016 that an EgyptAir plane with the registration SU-GCC, traveling from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board has crashed off the Greek island of Karpathos. Meanwhile, Egypt’s chief prosecutor Nabil Sadek says he has ordered an “urgent investigation” into crash. Sadek instructed the National Security Prosecutor to open an “extensive investigation” in the incident.
Egyptian airport officials said that three French and three British investigators and an AirBus technical expert have arrived in Cairo to join an investigation into the plane crash. Late Thursday, a senior Greek air safety official said the debris located so far in the Mediterranean sea — reported to have been “floating material”— did not belong to the missing jet. Athanassios Binis, head of Greece’s Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board, told state ERT TV that “an assessment of the finds showed that they do not belong to an aircraft.” It is not yet known what caused the crash.
The Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said that the plane swerved wildly before plummeting into the sea. The Egyptian military said that no distress call was received from the pilot. The country’s aviation minister Sherif Fathi said the likelihood the plane was brought down by a terror attack is “higher than the possibility of a technical failure.” Yet France’s foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault asserted Friday on France-2 television that there is “absolutely no indication” of what caused the crash. The junior minister for transport, Alain Vidalies, said on France-Info radio that “no theory is favored” at this stage and urged “the greatest caution.”
An Egyptian plane flies over an Egyptian ship during the search in the Mediterranean Sea for the missing EgyptAir flight 804 plane which crashed after disappearing from the radar early Thursday morning while carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo. The Egyptian army said Friday, May 20, 2016 that it has found wreckage of the missing Airbus 320 (290 kilometers) north of the city of Alexandria, Egypt. Logo in top left corner of the Egyptian Defense Ministry.
Amid fears the plane was downed by an extremist attack, Vidalies defended security at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport, saying staff badges are revoked if there is the slightest security doubt. Families of the victims spent the night in a hotel in Cairo while they awaited the news of their loved ones. Egyptian officials said some arrived from Paris late Thursday, among them eight French relatives of the 15 French passengers on board the missing jet. The Egyptian officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
FIRST PIECES SURFACE
With no bodies to bury, relatives and friends of some of the 66 people on board held special prayers in mosques for the lost. But the mystery remained over why the Airbus A320 — which had been cruising normally in clear skies on a nighttime flight from Paris to Cairo early Thursday — suddenly lurched left and then right and plummeted into the sea, never issuing a distress signal.
Egyptian authorities said they believe it may have been an act of terrorism, as have Russian officials and some aviation experts, but so far no hard evidence has emerged. No militant group has claimed to have brought down the aircraft. That is a contrast to the downing of a Russian jet in October over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that killed 224 people. In that case, the Islamic State group’s branch in Sinai issued a claim of responsibility within hours.
Three European security officials said the passenger manifest for EgyptAir Flight 804 contained no names on terrorism watch lists. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. The manifest was leaked online and has not been verified by EgyptAir. Still, the tragedy has fueled suspicions of terrorism, especially in light of the bombing of the Russian plane and the recent extremist attacks in Paris and Brussels. Some aviation experts have said the circumstances suggest a bomb blast.
The Imam of al Thawrah Mosque, Samir Abdel Bary, gives condolences to film director Osman Abu Laban, center, who lost four relatives, all victims of Thursday’s EgyptAir plane crash, following prayers for the dead, at al Thawrah Mosque, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, May 20, 2016. The Airbus A320 plane was flying from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared early Thursday over the sea.
Experts said answers will come only with examination of the wreckage and the plane’s black box recorders. But retrieving them may take time. The water is 8,000 to 10,000 feet deep in the area where the jetliner is thought to have gone down, roughly halfway between Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria and the Greek island of Crete. Friday brought the first confirmation of debris from the crash. The Egyptian army said it found debris around 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Alexandria, and that it was searching for more. EgyptAir said luggage and seats were found, as well as body parts.
France, Greece, Italy, Cyprus and Britain have joined the search, which encompasses a wide area south of Crete. Investigators from Egypt, France and Britain as well from Airbus will examine everything found in the search, Egyptian officials said. In Egypt — home to 30 of those on the flight — Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi informed relatives there were no survivors, the Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper said. In several mosques around the Egyptian capital, families and friends of the victims held what is known as “Salat al-Ghaib,” Arabic for “prayers for the absent.” Those are held for the dead when there is no body.
At the al-Thawra Mosque in Cairo’s Heliopolis district, mourners wept as they prayed for a family of four who were killed — Salah Abu Laban, his wife, Sahar Qouidar, their son Ghassan Abu Laban and daughter-in-law Reem al-Sebaei. “I ask God for forgiveness. This is very hard for the family,” a relative, Abdel-Rahman al-Nasry, told The Associated Press. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s office issued a statement expressing its condolences to relatives and its “deep regret and sadness for the victims.” “God give great mercy and host them in his heaven,” it added. The statement marked the first official recognition by Egypt’s government that the missing plane had crashed. The crash has struck a demoralizing blow to Egypt. The economy has been gutted by years of turmoil since the 2011 overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, and the Russian plane crash caused a new plunge in tourism, one of the country’s main money makers.
A team of French investigators and a technical expert from Airbus arrive to the Egyptian Civil Aviation ministry to help investigate the fate of the of EgyptAir flight 804 from Paris to Cairo, which crashed after disappearing Thursday from the radar while carrying 66 passengers and crew, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, May 20, 2016.
Egyptian security officials said they were running background checks on the passengers to see if any had links to extremists. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault asserted Friday on France-2 television that there is “absolutely no indication” of what caused the crash. Amid fears that a security lapse may have led to the tragedy, France’s junior minister for transport, Alain Vidalies, defended security at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport, saying staff badges are revoked if there is the slightest doubt.
The pilot, Mohammed Shoukair, was experienced by Egyptian standards, with 6,275 flying hours, and co-pilot Ahmed Assem had clocked 2,101 hours, officials said. A terror analyst who is in contact with members of the Islamic State group and other jihadist groups said there have been “no credible or even semi-credible” claims of responsibility for the flight’s crash. Shiraz Maher at the International Center for the Study of Radicalisation in London said the Islamic State released a 20-minute video Thursday about its plans to conquer India. “If they had been involved in the crash,” he said, “it would be very odd for them to have sent that video rather than boasting of the crash.”
GROUND STAFF QUESTIONED
The Latest on the crash of EgyptAir flight 804 (all times local): 6:20 p.m. A French judicial official says French aviation investigators have begun to check and question all ground staff at the Charles-de-Gaulle airport who had either a direct or an indirect link to EgyptAir Flight 804, which took off Wednesday night from Paris and crashed into the Mediterranean. he French official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak at this stage of the investigation, wouldn’t comment Friday on any initial results from the questioning.
Airport ground staff who worked on the plane or dealt with any goods going into its hold include baggage handlers, maintenance workers, gate agents, security guards, airline boarding employees and others. All of them carry “red badges” that provide access to restricted areas of the airport. These badges are given for three years by local authorities, not by the airport, after several police investigations. Last year, dozens of red badges were withdrawn “for the phenomenon of radicalization.” The judicial official says investigators are also poring over the list of the plane’s passengers and crew to look for criminal records or ties to terror watch lists.
6 p.m.
A French Navy patrol boat is leaving its Mediterranean home port of Toulon to take part in the searches for traces of EgyptAir Flight 804 — and it is especially keen on helping to find the plane’s black boxes. The 80-meter (262-foot) ship is equipped with sonar that can identify the sound of the underwater location beacons fitted to the crashed plane’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders. The Navy says it will take two to three days for the vessel and its crew of 90 to arrive in the search area, which is roughly halfway between Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria and the Greek island of Crete. It may take some time to find the recorders — the water is 8,000 to 10,000 feet (2,440 to 3,050 meters) deep in the area where the jet is thought to have gone down early Thursday as it carried 66 people from Paris to Cairo.
Egyptians perform prayers for the dead for victims of EgyptAir flight 804 at al Thawrah Mosque in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, May 20, 2016.
5:45 p.m.
The U.S. is supporting the effort to find the missing EgyptAir Flight 804, which crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, with U.S. Navy P-3 Orion aircraft based at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily, Italy. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a spokesman at the Pentagon, said Friday that it’s a three-hour flight to the search site and the U.S. military is rotating airplanes in. One sortie was flown on Thursday and so far, two have been flown Friday. Davis says “thus far, none of our aircraft have reported sighting any debris.” The Egyptian army says some wreckage has been found 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of the port city of Alexandria. Davis would not comment on whether the U.S. military has been able to provide satellite imagery regarding the missing plane to Egyptian officials.
5:35 p.m.
The Vatican says the pope has conveyed his solidarity with Egypt’s president and the families of plane crash victims following the deadly EgyptAir crash. The Vatican’s secretary of state said in a message to President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi that Pope Francis “wishes to assure you of his prayers and solidarity at this difficult time.” The pope also offered “divine blessings of strength and peace” to the relatives of the passengers and those involved in the search-and-rescue operations to find the plane that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea early Thursday. The Airbus A320 was carrying 66 passengers and crew.
4:50 p.m.
An EgyptAir official says more wreckage of the missing plane has been found, including body parts, luggage and passengers’ seats. A statement by the Civil Aviation Ministry quotes the unnamed official from EgyptAir as saying that the Egyptian armed forces on Friday retrieved more plane wreckage, including some of the passengers’ belongings, body parts, luggage, and plane seats. The official says the search continues. Earlier in the day, the Egyptian army said that wreckage was found 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of the port city Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast.
An Egyptian plane searches in the Mediterranean Sea for the missing EgyptAir flight 804 plane.
4:15 p.m.
A terror analyst who is in contact with members of the Islamic State group and other jihadist groups says there have been “no credible or even semi-credible” claims of responsibility for the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804. Shiraz Maher at the International Center for the Study of Radicalisation in London says IS on Thursday released a 20-minute video about how they planned to conquer India. He says “if they had been involved in the crash, it would be very odd for them to have sent that video rather than boasting of the crash.” The Airbus A320 was carrying 66 people from Paris to Cairo when is disappeared early Thursday over the southern Mediterranean. Maher said both the Islamic State and al-Qaida affiliates have been quick to claim responsibility in the past for other plane crashes, though he said the wreckage is a better indicator of whether the crash was terror-related. Maher also said it would be highly unusual to target a plane with mostly Muslim passengers, as EgyptAir’s leaked passenger manifest has suggested.
3:55 p.m.
Three European security officials say the passenger manifest for EgyptAir Flight 804 contained no known names on current terror watch lists. The lists are often used by both European and American security and law enforcement agencies, said the officials who spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the ongoing investigation. The passenger manifest was leaked online and has not been officially verified by EgyptAir. Flight 804 was carrying 66 people from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared early Thursday over the Mediterranean Sea. Officials say some apparent plane debris and an oil slick have been sighted in the region.
3:40 p.m.
An Egyptian paper is quoting the country’s civil aviation minister as telling the relatives of the victims of the EgyptAir crash that there are “no survivors.” The daily Al-Masry Al-Youm says Sherif Fathi told the families on Friday that the Egyptian armed forces are doing their best to locate the wreckage and personal belongings of the victims.
2:55 p.m.
The European Space Agency says one of its satellites has spotted a possible oil slick in the same area of the Mediterranean Sea where EgyptAir Flight 804 disappeared. The agency says its Sentinel-1A radar satellite detected the 2 kilometer- (1.2 mile-) long slick about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the plane’s last known location. It gave the coordinates as 33 32′ N / 29 13′ E. ESA says the information was passed to relevant authorities late Thursday to aid their search-and-rescue operations. The agency cautioned that there was no guarantee the slick was from the missing aircraft. It said the sister satellite Sentinel-2A will pass above the same area on Sunday and images will be studied for further clues as to the plane’s fate.
2:15 p.m.
Family members of four of the 66 victims who are believed to have died in the EgyptAir plane crash have held prayers for the dead in Cairo’s Sultan Hussein mosque. Some of the relatives broke into tears as they prayed on Friday. Among the victims of the crash of the EgyptAir flight 804 on Thursday were Salah Abu Laban, his wife Sahar Qouidar, their son Ghassan Abu Laban and daughter-in-law Reem al-Sebaei. Their relative, Abdel-Rahman al-Nasry, told The Associated Press that “this is very hard for the family.” A friend of the family, Magdi Badr, says: “We pray for the victims.”
1:15 p.m.
Greece’s defense minister says Greek authorities have received notification that Egyptian authorities had spotted a body part, two seats and suitcases during their search in the Mediterranean Sea for the crashed EgyptAir Flight 804. Minister Panos Kammenos says Friday that the items were found in the search area slightly to the south of where the aircraft had vanished from radar signals early Thursday. He said the location was slightly north of where some debris had been found on Thursday afternoon but authorities had been unable to identify that as having come from the missing aircraft. The Airbus A320 was carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared.
11:35 p.m.
The Egyptian presidency has expressed its “deep sadness and extreme regret” over the deaths of the 66 passengers and crew members aboard EgyptAir Flight 804. The Friday statement is the first official recognition of the tragic crash of the missing plane. It came minutes after the Egyptian army announced for the first time that it located plane debris and passengers’ personal belongings some 190 miles (306 kilometers) north of the city of Alexandria in the Mediterranean Sea. The Airbus A320 plane was flying from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared early Thursday over the sea.
11:15 a.m.
Egyptian airport officials say that investigators will inspect the plane debris and personal belongings that the Egyptian army says it found 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of the city of Alexandria. The officials said Friday that the chief Egyptian investigator Ayman el-Mokadam will be joined by French and British investigators as well as an expert from Airbus. The Airbus 320 plane operated by EgyptAir was carrying 66 people from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared off radar at around 2.45 a.m. local time in Egypt. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
11:00 a.m.
The Egyptian army says it has found wreckage of the missing EgyptAir flight 804, which crashed after disappearing from the radar while carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo. The Egyptian army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Samir, says in a statement posted on his Facebook page Friday that Egyptian jets and naval vessels participating in the search for the missing plane have found “personal belongings of the passengers and parts of the plane debris,” 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of the city of Alexandria. The Airbus 320 lost contact at 2.45 a.m. local time Thursday morning.
10:15 a.m.
Egyptian airport officials say that three French and three British investigators and an Airbus technical expert have arrived in Cairo to join the investigation into what caused EgyptAir flight 804 to crash while carrying 66 people bound for Cairo from Paris.
Authorities are continuing to search a wide area to the south of the Greek island of Crete Friday. The plane dropped off the radar while crossing the Mediterranean at around 2.45 a.m. local time Thursday morning.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
8:45 a.m.
France’s foreign minister and a top transport official say there is still no sign of what brought down a Paris-Cairo EgyptAir flight in the Mediterranean. Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Friday on France-2 television there is “absolutely no indication” of the cause. The junior minister for transport, Alain Vidalies, said on France-Info radio that “no theory is favored” at this stage and urged “the greatest caution.” A French military Falcon jet is helping in the search for debris. Vidalies said France could offer undersea search equipment and experts. Amid fears it was an extremist attack, Vidalies defended security at Charles de Gaulle Airport, saying staff badges are revoked if there is the slightest security doubt.
8:15 a.m.
The search is continuing for missing EgyptAir flight 804, which disappeared from the radar while carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo. Authorities are scouring a wide area south of the Greek island of Crete on Friday to search for wreckage, over 24 hours after the Airbus 320 lost contact. The Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos says that the plane swerved wildly before plummeting into the sea. The Egyptian military says that no distress call was received from the pilot. The country’s aviation minister Sherif Fathi says the likelihood the plane was brought down by a terror attack is “higher than the possibility of a technical failure.” The distressed relatives of those on board have spent the night in a hotel in Cairo while they await news.
SOURCES:
http://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/4357954-search-resumes-missing-egyptair-jet.html#.1258-stage-hero1-2
http://www.mail.com/int/news/world/4358260-1st-debris-egypt-plane-crash-clue.html#.4357954-stage-related1-1
http://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/4358022-latest-french-investigators-question-paris-airport.html#.4358260-stage-related1-1
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