Sunday, May 22, 2016

Images of wreckage released in EgyptAir probe

Egypt's military on Saturday displayed wreckage and personal belongings as searchers scoured the Mediterranean Sea for EgyptAir Flight 804's flight data and cockpit voice recorders.
The chunks of debris included an uninflated life vest, a seat, a purse, shoes, carpet, a scarf, parts of chairs and cushions and a sling bag. The EgyptAir label appeared on one piece of wreckage.
Search crews have recovered wreckage from EgyptAir Flight 804.
"The search is ongoing. It has uncovered initial pieces of the aircraft, body parts, belongings of the deceased, and it will continue hopefully until we can ascertain exactly where the plane has gone down," Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told CNN's Becky Anderson.
Shoukry said the searchers are pressing on, but it isn't clear how long it will take to recover the cockpit voice and flight data recorders -- the so-called black boxes -- to find out what happened.
The United States, France, Britain, Russia and others are eager to cooperate in the search, Shoukry said, adding he anticipates assistance in finding the recorders.
"We do not, I think, have the technical abilities to operate in such deep waters, whereas many of our partners might have this facility," he said.
The debris includes passengers' belongings from the plane.
On Friday, EgyptAir and Greek officials said that searchers found seats, personal belongings, and a body part. The Egyptian military said it discovered debris about 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Alexandria, Egypt.
No survivors have been found. Egyptian officials have said they suspect the crash was caused by an act of terror, but no group has come forward to claim credit.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told passengers' families Saturday that "no theory" has been ruled out.
The Airbus A320 carried 56 passengers and 10 crew members and security when it left Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris late Wednesday headed for Cairo.
Most of the passengers were Egyptian -- 30 in all.
Also aboard were 15 French citizens, including an infant, and passengers from Iraq, Britain, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Chad, Portugal, Canada and Algeria, according to Sharif Fathi, Egypt's civil aviation minister.

Automatic messages about smoke

In France, aviation officials revealed that the plane sent automatic messages about smoke in the front of the aircraft just before it crashed early Thursday.
France's revelation confirmed flight data that CNN obtained from an Egyptian source a day earlier.
That flight data indicated smoke alerts occurred near the cockpit minutes before the crash.
The data came through the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, or ACARS, which sends messages between planes and ground facilities. A screen grab of data has time stamps that match the approximate time the aircraft went missing.
Flight data show smoke alerts on the plane minutes before the crash early Thursday.
BEA, France's accident investigation agency, "can confirm that the aircraft sent automatic ACARS messages about smoke in the front of the aircraft," spokesman Sebastian Barthe said.
Barthe said he cannot confirm the cause of the smoke or its origins.
The alerts don't necessarily mean a fire occurred on the plane or that the crew even knew about the alerts, which are automatically transmitted, aviation experts cautioned.

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