Egypt’s civil aviation minister has told the relatives of the victims of the EgyptAir crash there are “no survivors”, according to a newspaper report.
The daily Al-Masry Al-Youm said Sherif Fathi had told the families that Egyptian armed forces are doing their best to locate the wreckage and personal belongings of the victims.
The report came after authorities say they had spotted a body part, two seats and suitcases in the search for the missing plane, according to Greek officials.
Meanwhile, debris and body parts have been found in the Mediterranean Sea by teams searching for the missing EgyptAir plane, the BBC reports quoting Greek and Egyptian officials.
According to the BBC, items including seats and luggage has also been retrieved by Egyptian search crews.
The debris was discovered about 290km (180 miles) north of Alexandria, the Egyptian military said.
EgyptAir flight 804 crashed while carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo.
A team of Egyptian investigators led by Ayman el-Mokadam – along with French and British teams and an expert from Airbus – will inspect what has been found, Egyptian officials said.
The plane fell off the radar at 2.45am local time on Thursday morning while it was crossing the Mediterranean.
The office of Egypt’s president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, earlier issued a statement expressing its condolences to the relatives of the 66 killed. It said the presidency “expressed its deep regret and sadness for the victims”.
“God give great mercy and host them in his heaven,” it added.
The statement marked the first official recognition by Egypt’s government that the missing plane had crashed.
France, Greece, Italy, Cyprus and the UK have all joined the Egyptian search effort, Egypt’s defence ministry said. Authorities had been scouring a wide area south of the Greek island of Crete.
It is not yet known what caused the crash.
__________
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2015 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.
