Cairo – A senior Greek air safety official says the debris found so far in the Mediterranean Sea does not belong to an aircraft.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
An EgyptAir Airbus A320 crashed into the Mediterranean Sea early Thursday while carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo, and authorities have been scouring a wide area south of Crete to look for plane debris.
Egyptian and Greek authorities in ships and planes searched the suspected crash area throughout the day for traces of the plane, with help on the way from various other countries.
But as night fell, the searchers had yet to find any confirmed debris, at one point dismissing a reported sighting of life vests and other floating material.
The airline, which earlier today stated wreckage had been found, has not provided an update.
But 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.” He says Thursday this has been confirmed by Egyptian authorities.
Greek military officials say a Greek C-130 military transport plane is still participating in the search for debris from the EgyptAir jet, but a frigate initially sent to the area has been recalled. The same officials say all potential debris located so far in the sea has been spotted by Egyptian aircraft.
hose on board, according to EgyptAir and various governments, included 15 French passengers, 30 Egyptians, two Iraqis, one Briton, one Kuwaiti, one Saudi, one Sudanese, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Belgian, one Algerian and two Canadians. The passengers included two babies.
Airbus said the aircraft in Thursday’s disaster was delivered to EgyptAir in 2003 and had logged 48,000 flight hours. The pilot had more than 6,000 hours of flying time, authorities said.