MS804: Debris from Missing EgyptAir Plane Found in Mediterranean Sea

Body parts, personal belongings of passengers and debris from missing EgyptAir plane have been found in the Mediterranean Sea, Greek and Egyptian officials say.

Flight MS804 was en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew when it vanished on May 19.

Seats and luggage has also been retrieved by Egyptian search crews.

The debris was discovered about 180 miles north of Alexandria, the Egyptian military said.

European Space Agency (ESA) satellites spotted an oil slick in the area where the flight had vanished but the organization said there was no guarantee it was from the missing plane.

The search is now focused on finding the plane’s flight recorders, the Associated Press news agency reports.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has expressed his “utmost sadness and regret” at the crash.

Military units from Greece, Egypt, France and the UK have been taking part in a search operation near the Greek island Karpathos.

Greece said radar showed the Airbus A320 had made two sharp turns and dropped more than 25,000ft before plunging into the sea.

Egypt says the plane was more likely to have been brought down by a terrorist act than a technical fault.

However, there has been “absolutely no indication” so far as to why the plane came down, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on May 20.

Three investigators from the French air accident investigation bureau, along with a technical adviser from Airbus, have joined the Egyptian inquiry.

The missing plane was forced to make an emergency landing in 2013 after the pilot noticed the engine overheating, but an official report said defect was repaired.

In France, the focus is on whether a possible breach of security happened at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.

After last year’s attacks in the French capital, some airport staff had their security clearance revoked over fears of links to Islamic extremists.