Thursday, May 19, 2016

Plane more likely brought down by terror than failure

Missing EgyptAir flight MS804 was more likely brought down by a terror attack than technical failure, the Egyptian aviation minister has said.

A major search and rescue operation is under way after the plane went missing over the Mediterranean Sea in the early hours of this morning.

The plane was carrying 66 passengers and crew on a flight from Paris to Cairo.

Greek state television has reported that aircraft debris was found in the southern Mediterranean by Greek authorities.


  • Earlier, a Greek frigate searching for the aircraft discovered two large plastic floating objects in a sea area 230 miles south of the island of Crete, Greek defence sources said this afternoon.

The two objects appeared to be pieces of plastic in white and red. It has also been reported that two life vests which appeared to be from an aircraft were also found.

Speaking during a press conference, minister Sherif Fathy said there is no known security issues with passengers but that further checks were under way.

He said: "The possibility of having a different action on board, of having a terror attack, it is higher than the possibility of having a technical failure." He added that he still had no information on the plane's fate.

Search efforts are focused near the Greek island of Karpathos as well as the vicinity just south of it, but he described the search as "flexible".

The plane was in Egypt airspace at 37,000 feet and made sudden swerves before disappearing from radar, the Greek defence minister said earlier.

French President Francois Hollande said that the Airbus A320 had "crashed".

"We must ensure that we know everything on the causes of what happened. No hypothesis is ruled out or favoured," he said in a televised address...http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0519/789411-egyptair/
 19/5/16
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11 comments :

  1. There have also been several reports of debris being spotted in the Mediterranean near to where EgyptAir Flight 804 disappeared. None have been officially confirmed.

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  2. Des débris qui pourraient être ceux de l'avion d'Egyptair qui s'est abîmé jeudi en Méditerranée avec 66 personnes à bord ont été découverts au large de l'île grecque de Crète par un avion égyptien, a le porte-parole de l'armée grecque, Vassilis Beletsiotis. Le ministre égyptien de l'Aviation civile a par ailleurs estimé que l'hypothèse d'une "attaque terroriste" était "plus probable" que celle d'une défaillance technique...

    "Des objets ont été localisés dans le sud-est de la Crète par un C-130 égyptien, dans une zone qui du point de vue aérien dépend de l'Egypte. Des bateaux seront envoyés sur place" pour vérifier de quoi il s'agit, a indiqué M. Beletsiotis. La télévision publique grecque ERT1 a indiqué de son côté que "des débris ont été découverts à 230 milles marin de la Crète". "La situation peut, et je dis bien +peut+ car je ne veux pas spéculer (...), laisser penser que la probabilité, la possibilité, d'une action à bord, d'une attaque terroriste, est plus élevée que celle d'une défaillance technique", a par ailleurs souligné le ministre égyptien Chérif Fathy lors d'une conférence de presse. "Mais je ne veux pas tirer de conclusions hâtives", a-t-il précisé. (Belga)

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  3. Greek military official says an Egyptian search plane has located two orange items believed to be from the missing EgyptAir flight, AP reported.

    The official says the items were found 230 miles (370 kilometers) south-southeast of the island of Crete but still within the Egyptian air traffic control area. One of the items was oblong, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations.

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  4. Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry "so far cannot confirm that the wreckage of the missing EgyptAir plane has been found", state-run Nile News TV has reported.

    ReplyDelete
  5. L'administration américaine a envoyé un avion de patrouille maritime sur la zone de Méditerranée, ont indiqué des responsables aux Etats-Unis, précisant que le président Barack Obama était tenu au courant de l'évolution de la situation.

    Cet avion Orion P-3, parti de la base américaine de Sigonella en Sicile, est arrivé sur zone peu après 14h00 GMT pour participer aux recherches, selon un responsable américain de la Défense

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  6. A statement from the White House says US officials are in touch with their counterparts in France and Egypt to offer assistance. The statement also offered condolences to the families of the victims.

    ReplyDelete
  7. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said France would provide security at Euro 2016 "with all our strength"...

    "We are committed with all our strength ... to provide security for those who live and will come to France, notably for the Euro 2016," Ayrault told reporters on the sidelines of NATO talks in Brussels.

    ReplyDelete
  8. France has announced it is sending investigators and technical expert to help in EgyptAir probe, the AFP news agency reports.

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  9. Wreckage of the missing EgyptAir flight has been found near Karpathos island, the airliner says.

    In a statement, EgyptAir says the confirmation has been made by Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the country's Ministry of Civil Aviation.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Press ReleaseEGYPTAIR resource stated that the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation has just received an official letter from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that confirms the finding of wreckage of the missing aircraft No. MS 804

    ReplyDelete
  11. Le vice-président de la compagnie aérienne Egyptair a annoncé sur CNN la découverte de l'épave de l'Airbus A320.

    "Nous avons retrouvé l'épave", a déclaré Ahmed Adel à la journaliste de CNN Christiane Amanpour.

    ReplyDelete

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