Missing EgyptAir Flight 804 Wreckage Found: Airline Officials Say Now A Search And Recovery Mission, Not Rescue
The fate of EgyptAir flight MS804, reported missing with 66 passengers on board, has held the world captive and now it has been reported that the wreckage of the plane was found on Thursday afternoon in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The information has been confirmed by airline vice chairman, Ahmed Adel.
The vice chairman of the EgyptAir airline did not comment on the condition of the wreckage that was found, imply advising that the plane was found near the Greek island of Karpathos after searchers have been scouring the heavily-traveled waters since the missing flight was first reported. Unfortunately, based on the language used by Adel, it seems that survivors are highly unlikely. The airline stated that the search was no longer one of search and rescue, but that the status had been changed to more of a search and recovery mission — usually this means that they are merely seeking to recover the bodies of the victims at this point.
CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour has reportedly spoken to Adel and been told that the passenger manifest will still be withheld out of respect for the persons who were on the previously missing plane and their loved ones. Many of them had actually turned up at Cairo International Airport in Egypt and had to receive medical attention for conditions ranging from a nervous breakdown to increase in blood pressure.
“Our main concern right now is taking care of the family and friends of all those who perished. We are now in the process of contacting next of kin. Once that process is complete, we will release the passenger manifest.”
Unidentified relatives and friends of passengers who were flying in an EgyptAir plane… https://t.co/po8PWiuWVZ via @Reuters
— valeabimm (@valeabimm) May 19, 2016
Prior to the news that the wreckage of the missing EgyptAir flight MS804 had been found, a spokesman for Greece’s Hellenic National Defense General Staff had announced that members of a crew who were aboard an Egyptian search aircraft looking for the missing plane reported spotting floating objects off the southeast of the Greek island Crete, about 210 nautical miles off. However, it remains unclear whether or not those floating pieces are a part of the wreckage of the plane Adel speaks of.
The disappearance of the Airbus A320 with its 66 passengers and crew members was reported early Thursday during a flight from Paris to Cairo while it was over the Mediterranean Sea. There has been much speculation that the disappearance could be a possible terrorist attack rather than having suffered any technical difficulties, and the Inquisitr previously wrote of the possibility that a bomb was the cause of the downed plane.
Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sharif Fathi did not seem in a hurry to add fuel to the fire though, and said that both technical failures and terror activities could be possible explanations, though he did express his opinions as well, especially based on the statement that prior flight maintenance checks done had reported that “no snags” had occurred.
“But if you analyze this situation properly, the possibility of having a different action aboard, of having a terror attack, is higher than having a technical problem.”
According to the UK Mirror EgyptAir is also giving no official statement on what caused the crash, but reports are that the authorities are working to recover the wreckage and the debris found near the Greek island of Karpathos. Former chief of France’s air accident investigation unit — the BEA, Jean-Paul Troadec, has stated that the manner in which EgyptAir flight MS804 disappeared suggests a “brutal event” that was “almost certainly” caused by “an attack.”
Officials with inside knowledge of the ongoing investigation have shared that background checks that were run against the passenger manifest so far have not resulted in any hits on the terror watch lists.
[Photo Courtesy of Thomas Ranner/ AP Images/ Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority]
