EgyptAir flight MS804 was carrying 66 people - including a British dad-of-two - from Paris to Cairo yesterday when it disappeared from radar.
Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry confirmed this afternoon that crews have found human remains in the search for the missing Airbus A320.
The parts, discovered in the Mediterranean sea, were found alongside ‘passengers’ belongings’ and plane seats, the ministry said in a statement.
The search area for the plane - which is believed to have plummeted tens of thousands of feet into the ocean - is currently 40 miles, officials said.
However, this will be expanded as necessary.
The cause of the crash remains unknown, but Egypt says the possibility of a terror attack is 'stronger' than that of a technical failure.
Stay with us for the latest news on the tragedy.
Police are investigating whether the terrorists behind last year’s Paris attacks met at Charles de Gaulle airport as part of a plot to bring down the tragic EgyptAir flight.
It emerged last night that four members of the ISIS team were at the airport on November 13 last year, two hours before the Paris attacks.
The investigation has fuelled claims IS-supporting airport staff have planted a bomb on board Cairo-bound flight MS804, killing all 66 on board.
Detectives have stated they are certain the trip to the airport was part of a planned operational stop.
A police source in Paris said last night that thousands of airport staff are being interrogated.
Anti terror judges have also questioned leader Salah Abdeslam, 26, who was captured in Brussels in March and is set to stand trial for orchestrating the attacks that killed 130 people.
The source added: “It is feared the jihadis were coordinating with comrades at the airport.
“Anti-terrorist judges are today interrogating Abdeslam about his links with staff at Charles de Gaulle.”
Experts said answers would come only with an examination of the wreckage and the plane’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders, commonly known as black boxes.
A French navy patrol boat left the port of Toulon on Friday with sonar that can pick up the underwater “pings” emitted by the recorders.
But it will take the vessel two or three days to reach the search zone.
Ships and planes from Egypt, Greece, Britain, France, the United States and Cyprus have taken part in the search for what is left of Flight 804, scouring the waters roughly halfway between the Greek island of Crete and the Egyptian coast.
The waters in the area are 8,000 to 10,000 feet deep and the pings can be detected up to a depth of 20,000 feet.
“Its batteries allow it to transmit for 30 days,” Athanassios Binis, head of Greece’s aviation accident investigation agency, said.
Once a vessel detects the recorders, “the next step would be to pinpoint it and go down with special equipment to recover it”.
No militant group has claimed to have brought down the aircraft, in contrast to the downing of a Russian jet in October over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that killed 224 people.
In that case, the Islamic State group’s branch in Sinai issued a claim of responsibility within hours.
On Friday, IS issued a statement on clashes with the Egyptian military in Sinai, but nothing about the plane.
Three European security officials said the passenger manifest for Flight 804 contained no names on terrorism watch lists.
The manifest was leaked online and has not been verified by the airline.
Flight data, from an automatic system called the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), said smoke alerts were triggered aboard the EgyptAir jet shortly before it crashed.
ACARS routinely downloads flight data to the airline operating the aircraft.
US officials said an electronic sensor system had detected some kind of disturbance outside the jet around the time investigators believe it began falling from cruising altitude.
They said the disturbance outside the aircraft may have been caused by its sudden and rapid breakup, but it also could have been generated by some kind of mechanical fault or accident or a possible explosion or attack.
The officials asked for anonymity when speaking about the still-evolving investigation.
A screen grab of the flight data transmitted by ACARS to operators on the ground, published on the website of the aviation journal AVHerald.com, indicated failures in the jet’s flight control system and alerts related to smoke in a lavatory and the avionics system, minutes before the crash.
The screen grab provided on the website showed only very terse messages sent from the aircraft, such as “SMOKE LAVATORY SMOKE,” “AVIONICS SMOKE” and “F/CTRL SEC 3 FAULT.”
A bizarre link has emerged between missing EgyptAir Flight MS804 and Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.
In an apparent incredible coincidence, there are exactly 804 days between the two flights disappearing - the same call sign as the jet in the latest disappearance.
Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 last made voice contact with air traffic control at 5.19pm on March 17 2014, before vanishing without trace.
EgyptAir Flight 804 last made voice contact with air traffic control at around 2.30am on May 19 2016, before disappearing without explanation.
There are exactly 804 days between the two incidents.
The world’s anti-terror experts are probing details on how the missing Egypt plane was brought down.
Neither al-Qaeda or Islamic state have claimed responsibility for the crash that killed 66 people.
However, defence officials in Egypt and the US believe a terror attack is the most likely explanation.
But what exactly happened and how could terrorists have taken over control of a plane at 37,000ft from the cabin crew while three security guards were travelling on board?
These are five possible scenarios that are being explored - each as concerning and frightening to contemplate as the other.
Experts hunting for wreckage from the missing EgyptAir plane still have no idea what happened more than 24 hours into their search.
Yesterday aviation analysts believed the Flight 804 was blown up over the Mediterranean while rescue teams reported possible sightings of debris and bodies.
But now the initial wreckage reports were confirmed as false and US military experts have denied knowledge that any explosion has been detected.
Facts have been scarce to come by since flight carrying 66 people from Paris to Cairo vanished from radar screens at 2.33am local time on Thursday morning.
The facts are that the flight took off at 9.09pm from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport for what should have been a routine flight.
What IS known so far is this:
- There is categorically NO sign of a crash
- There have been NO confirmed sightings of wreckage from the plane
- There are simply NO facts to back up explosion theories
- There was NO distress call made from the crew or any sign something was amiss
- NOTHING has been heard of from the crew since it entered Egyptian airspace.
Kuwaiti economist Abdel Mohsen al-Sohaili was travelling to Cairo for a three-day break.
His family say the father, whose two children were both disabled, was onboard the jet.
His nephew Masharei al-Sohaili told the New York Times: “He was happy to come. He had his two kids. Both disabled.”
It emerged last night that EgyptAir 804 may have suffered an on-board fire after smoke was recorded in a bathroom just moments before it vanished.
The mystery bears similarities to the SwissAir 111 disaster in 1998.
The flight took off from JFK airport and then began to fly over the Atlantic Ocean, but a little less than an hour into the flight the crew noticed smoke in the cockpit and issued the international urgency signal.
They were cleared to proceed to the airport in Halifax but crashed into the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean off Nova Scotia, killing all 229 people on board.
The smoke was determined to have been caused by a fire above the cockpit which blackened out the pilot flight screens.
Egyptian Armed Forces and the Navy are still combing the search site for more remains of the EgyptAir plane.
It is thought flight attendant Samar Ezz El-Deen was onboard the plane when it disappeared.
Relative Mervat Moamen says el-Deen had recently got married and said her family were still hoping she had been kidnapped and was still alive.
Mervat Zakaria was the cabin manager on the plane and had been promoted just a month before the jet crashed into the Meditteranean.
She is a former TV actress who stared as a troubled teenage girl in the Egyptian drama Abu El Ela El-Bashery.
The mother-of-one left her role as an actress, however to become an air hostess with the airline.
She is thought to be married.
A British RAF C-130 Hercules plane and UK warship Royal Fleet Auxiliary Lyme Bay are among the military crews helping in the EgyptAir search operation.
They were joined by Egyptian and French military units today as they scoured waters by Greece’s Karpathos island.
This afternoon, Egypt said human remains, wreckage and passengers’ personal belongings had been found floating in the Mediterranean.
The country’s navy had earlier discovered a severed arm, a plane seat and a suitcase, it was reported.
The investigation into the EgyptAir plane crash is now sharply focused on terrorism after human remains and debris were found in the Mediterranean Sea.
Experts are now convinced extremists broke through international security systems, planted a bomb on Flight MS804 and sent 56 passengers and ten crew members to their deaths.
The main suspect for where the bomb could have been planted is Cairo airport, where American and Israeli security experts are helping investigators try to sift out any Islamist extremists.
One former British intelligence officer said: “Egyptian government employees have always had extremist Islamic elements and have to come under suspicion.
“I would be looking at who vets the security and ground staff in Egypt.
“Not enough has been done there to clamp down on an horrifically easy-going and corrupt system there.”
EgyptAir Flight MS804 may have suffered an on-board fire after smoke was recorded in a bathroom just moments before it vanished, it is reported.
The plane apparently sent auto signals indicating smoke in a lavatory close to its electronics and engineering ‘E&E’ bay shortly after entering Egyptian airspace.
Seconds later, avionics compartment smoke was detected, followed by a warning that the flight control units were failing, according to the Aviation Herald.
Experts say this suggests a fire broke out on-board the plane in the minutes before it is believed to have plummeted tens of thousands of feet into the sea.
The aviation blog claims to have published Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages from the doomed A320.
It says the data was passed on by three independent sources, although we cannot verify its authenticity.
The British father killed in the EgyptAir disaster previously laughed off his family’s worries of a possible terror attack.
Richard Osman’s wife Aureilie, 36, had warned him to be careful whenever he travelled abroad on business.
But the 40-year-old geologist shrugged off her fears, chillingly saying: “It is never going to happen to me.”
Richard and 65 fellow passengers and crew died when Flight MS804 plunged into the Mediterranean on Thursday morning.
He had become a father for the second time just three weeks earlier and was on his first overseas trip after paternity leave.
Richard’s brother, Alistair, said: “Aureilie had warned him to be careful but he took the view that it’s never going to happen to you. He just laughed it off.”
The EgyptAir crash site is in one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean Sea.
The wreckage of the plane is likely to have sunk up to a staggering 14,000 feet.
Smoke was detected inside a bathroom on EgyptAir Flight MS804 just minutes before its last transmission, it is claimed.
Data bursts reported smoke coming from one of the lavatories of the doomed jet, according to the Aviation Herald.
The aviation blog claims to have published Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages from the plane.
An international security expert tweeted an image of the alleged messages, as shown on MSNBC, writing: “Smoke in the lavatory then spread for at least 3min.”
A leading aviation expert has raised concerns that the EgyptAir plane could have been downed following an inside job by a member of staff.
Mike Vivian, who is the former head of flight operations for the Civil Aviation Authority, said the notion that somebody on the plane or at the airport helped launch a devastating terror attack was ‘a major worry’.
His comments, made earlier today, came as officials in France focused on whether a possible breach of security happened at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Mr Vivian was asked if it could be ‘an inside job’.
He replied: “Well, that is a really interesting question and it is a worry that has been in security minds for a long time now.
“It is a major worry and I do not think it is insignificant that lots of people at Paris Charles de Gaulle lost their airside pass because of radicalisation.
Searches are ongoing for the missing Airbus A320, which vanished in the early hours of yesterday morning while flying from Paris to Cairo
EgyptAir flight MS804 was carrying 66 people - including a British dad-of-two - from Paris to Cairo yesterday when it disappeared from radar.
Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry confirmed this afternoon that crews have found human remains in the search for the missing Airbus A320.
The parts, discovered in the Mediterranean sea, were found alongside ‘passengers’ belongings’ and plane seats, the ministry said in a statement.
The search area for the plane - which is believed to have plummeted tens of thousands of feet into the ocean - is currently 40 miles, officials said.
However, this will be expanded as necessary.
The cause of the crash remains unknown, but Egypt says the possibility of a terror attack is 'stronger' than that of a technical failure.
Police are investigating whether the terrorists behind last year’s Paris attacks met at Charles de Gaulle airport as part of a plot to bring down the tragic EgyptAir flight.
It emerged last night that four members of the ISIS team were at the airport on November 13 last year, two hours before the Paris attacks.
The investigation has fuelled claims IS-supporting airport staff have planted a bomb on board Cairo-bound flight MS804, killing all 66 on board.
Detectives have stated they are certain the trip to the airport was part of a planned operational stop.
A police source in Paris told The Sun last night that thousands of airport staff are being interrogated.
Anti terror judges have also questioned leader Salah Abdeslam, 26, who was captured in Brussels in March and is set to stand trial for orchestrating the attacks that killed 130 people.
The source added: “It is feared the jihadis were coordinating with comrades at the airport.
“Anti-terrorist judges are today interrogating Abdeslam about his links with staff at Charles de Gaulle.”
Experts said answers would come only with an examination of the wreckage and the plane’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders, commonly known as black boxes.
A French navy patrol boat left the port of Toulon on Friday with sonar that can pick up the underwater “pings” emitted by the recorders.
But it will take the vessel two or three days to reach the search zone.
Ships and planes from Egypt, Greece, Britain, France, the United States and Cyprus have taken part in the search for what is left of Flight 804, scouring the waters roughly halfway between the Greek island of Crete and the Egyptian coast.
The waters in the area are 8,000 to 10,000 feet deep and the pings can be detected up to a depth of 20,000 feet.
“Its batteries allow it to transmit for 30 days,” Athanassios Binis, head of Greece’s aviation accident investigation agency, said.
Once a vessel detects the recorders, “the next step would be to pinpoint it and go down with special equipment to recover it”.
No militant group has claimed to have brought down the aircraft, in contrast to the downing of a Russian jet in October over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that killed 224 people.
In that case, the Islamic State group’s branch in Sinai issued a claim of responsibility within hours.
On Friday, IS issued a statement on clashes with the Egyptian military in Sinai, but nothing about the plane.
Three European security officials said the passenger manifest for Flight 804 contained no names on terrorism watch lists.
The manifest was leaked online and has not been verified by the airline.
Flight data, from an automatic system called the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), said smoke alerts were triggered aboard the EgyptAir jet shortly before it crashed.
ACARS routinely downloads flight data to the airline operating the aircraft.
US officials said an electronic sensor system had detected some kind of disturbance outside the jet around the time investigators believe it began falling from cruising altitude.
They said the disturbance outside the aircraft may have been caused by its sudden and rapid breakup, but it also could have been generated by some kind of mechanical fault or accident or a possible explosion or attack.
The officials asked for anonymity when speaking about the still-evolving investigation.
A screen grab of the flight data transmitted by ACARS to operators on the ground, published on the website of the aviation journal AVHerald.com, indicated failures in the jet’s flight control system and alerts related to smoke in a lavatory and the avionics system, minutes before the crash.
The screen grab provided on the website showed only very terse messages sent from the aircraft, such as “SMOKE LAVATORY SMOKE,” “AVIONICS SMOKE” and “F/CTRL SEC 3 FAULT.”
In an apparent incredible coincidence, there are exactly 804 days between the two flights disappearing - the same call sign as the jet in the latest disappearance.
Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 last made voice contact with air traffic control at 5.19pm on March 17 2014, before vanishing without trace.
EgyptAir Flight 804 last made voice contact with air traffic control at around 2.30am on May 19 2016, before disappearing without explanation.
There are exactly 804 days between the two incidents.
The world’s anti-terror experts are probing details on how the missing Egypt plane was brought down.
Neither al-Qaeda or Islamic state have claimed responsibility for the crash that killed 66 people.
However, defence officials in Egypt and the US believe a terror attack is the most likely explanation.
But what exactly happened and how could terrorists have taken over control of a plane at 37,000ft from the cabin crew while three security guards were travelling on board?
These are five possible scenarios that are being explored - each as concerning and frightening to contemplate as the other.
Signs of smoke - but no evidence of an explosion
Experts hunting for wreckage from the missing EgyptAir plane still have no idea what happened more than 24 hours into their search.
Yesterday aviation analysts believed the Flight 804 was blown up over the Mediterranean while rescue teams reported possible sightings of debris and bodies.
But now the initial wreckage reports were confirmed as false and US military experts have denied knowledge that any explosion has been detected.
Facts have been scarce to come by since flight carrying 66 people from Paris to Cairo vanished from radar screens at 2.33am local time on Thursday morning.
The facts are that the flight took off at 9.09pm from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport for what should have been a routine flight.
What IS known so far is this:
- There is categorically NO sign of a crash
- There have been NO confirmed sightings of wreckage from the plane
- There are simply NO facts to back up explosion theories
- There was NO distress call made from the crew or any sign something was amiss
- NOTHING has been heard of from the crew since it entered Egyptian airspace.
Dad of disabled children was heading for three-day break in Cairo
Kuwaiti economist Abdel Mohsen al-Sohaili was travelling to Cairo for a three-day break.
His family say the father, whose two children were both disabled, was onboard the jet.
His nephew Masharei al-Sohaili told the New York Times: “He was happy to come. He had his two kids. Both disabled.”
It emerged last night that EgyptAir 804 may have suffered an on-board fire after smoke was recorded in a bathroom just moments before it vanished.
The mystery bears similarities to the SwissAir 111 disaster in 1998.
The flight took off from JFK airport and then began to fly over the Atlantic Ocean, but a little less than an hour into the flight the crew noticed smoke in the cockpit and issued the international urgency signal.
They were cleared to proceed to the airport in Halifax but crashed into the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean off Nova Scotia, killing all 229 people on board.
The smoke was determined to have been caused by a fire above the cockpit which blackened out the pilot flight screens.
Egyptian Armed Forces and the Navy are still combing the search site for more remains of the EgyptAir plane.
Newlywed flight attendant among those on board
It is thought flight attendant Samar Ezz El-Deen was onboard the plane when it disappeared.
Relative Mervat Moamen says el-Deen had recently got married and said her family were still hoping she had been kidnapped and was still alive.
Mervat Zakaria was the cabin manager on the plane and had been promoted just a month before the jet crashed into the Meditteranean.
She is a former TV actress who stared as a troubled teenage girl in the Egyptian drama Abu El Ela El-Bashery.
The mother-of-one left her role as an actress, however to become an air hostess with the airline.
She is thought to be married.
A British RAF C-130 Hercules plane and UK warship Royal Fleet Auxiliary Lyme Bay are among the military crews helping in the EgyptAir search operation.
They were joined by Egyptian and French military units today as they scoured waters by Greece’s Karpathos island.
This afternoon, Egypt said human remains, wreckage and passengers’ personal belongings had been found floating in the Mediterranean.
The country’s navy had earlier discovered a severed arm, a plane seat and a suitcase, it was reported.
'Not enough being done to clamp down on Cairo's corrupt system' - security expert
The investigation into the EgyptAir plane crash is now sharply focused on terrorism after human remains and debris were found in the Mediterranean Sea.
Experts are now convinced extremists broke through international security systems, planted a bomb on Flight MS804 and sent 56 passengers and ten crew members to their deaths.
The main suspect for where the bomb could have been planted is Cairo airport, where American and Israeli security experts are helping investigators try to sift out any Islamist extremists.
Former British intelligence officer said: “Egyptian government employees have always had extremist Islamic elements and have to come under suspicion.
“I would be looking at who vets the security and ground staff in Egypt.
“Not enough has been done there to clamp down on an horrifically easy-going and corrupt system there.”
EgyptAir Flight MS804 may have suffered an on-board fire after smoke was recorded in a bathroom just moments before it vanished, it is reported.
The plane apparently sent auto signals indicating smoke in a lavatory close to its electronics and engineering ‘E&E’ bay shortly after entering Egyptian airspace.
Seconds later, avionics compartment smoke was detected, followed by a warning that the flight control units were failing, according to the Aviation Herald.
Experts say this suggests a fire broke out on-board the plane in the minutes before it is believed to have plummeted tens of thousands of feet into the sea.
The aviation blog claims to have published Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages from the doomed A320.
It says the data was passed on by three independent sources, although the Mirror Online cannot verify its authenticity.
British dad-of-two had 'laughed off family's worries of possible terror attack'
The British father killed in the EgyptAir disaster previously laughed off his family’s worries of a possible terror attack.
Richard Osman’s wife Aureilie, 36, had warned him to be careful whenever he travelled abroad on business.
But the 40-year-old geologist shrugged off her fears, chillingly saying: “It is never going to happen to me.”
Richard and 65 fellow passengers and crew died when Flight MS804 plunged into the Mediterranean on Thursday morning.
He had become a father for the second time just three weeks earlier and was on his first overseas trip after paternity leave.
Richard’s brother, Alistair, said: “Aureilie had warned him to be careful but he took the view that it’s never going to happen to you. He just laughed it off.”
Wreckage could have sunk as deep as 14,000 feet
The EgyptAir crash site is in one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean Sea.
The wreckage of the plane is likely to have sunk up to a staggering 14,000 feet.
Smoke 'detected inside plane bathroom moments before crash'
Smoke was detected inside a bathroom on EgyptAir Flight MS804 just minutes before its last transmission, it is claimed.
Data bursts reported smoke coming from one of the lavatories of the doomed jet, according to the Aviation Herald.
The aviation blog claims to have published Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages from the plane.
An international security expert tweeted an image of the alleged messages, as shown on MSNBC, writing: “Smoke in the lavatory then spread for at least 3min.”
A leading aviation expert has raised concerns that the EgyptAir plane could have been downed following an inside job by a member of staff.
Mike Vivian, who is the former head of flight operations for the Civil Aviation Authority, said the notion that somebody on the plane or at the airport helped launch a devastating terror attack was ‘a major worry’.
His comments, made earlier today, came as officials in France focused on whether a possible breach of security happened at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport.
Mike Vivian is the former head of flight operations for the Civil Aviation Authority
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Mr Vivian was asked if it could be ‘an inside job’.
He replied: “Well, that is a really interesting question and it is a worry that has been in security minds for a long time now.
“It is a major worry and I do not think it is insignificant that lots of people at Paris Charles de Gaulle lost their airside pass because of radicalisation.
“The question has to be how did they get their in the first place and what sort of screening is going on vis-a-vis these airport employees.”
Mr Vivian said he believe the plane could have been downed because of a hijack situation or a struggle.
He also admitted that despite security around cockpits hardening since 9/11, they are not completely secure.
The search continued this evening for EgyptAir Flight MS804 - nearly two days after the doomed flight took off from Paris.
The plane swerved and plummeted into the ocean just hours after departing from Charles de Gaulle Airport on Wednesday night.
The 66 people lost aboard the plane included a businessman adored by his colleagues, a language and history scholar, and a mother caring for a daughter with cancer.
Egypt says its navy has so far found human remains, suitcases, plane seats and personal belongings in the search for the plane wreckage.
Investigators have started checking and questioning ground staff at at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, it is reported.
They are quizzing anyone who had either a direct or an indirect link to EgyptAir Flight 804 before it took off on Wednesday night, officials said.
Workers including baggage handlers, maintenance staff, gate agents, security guards and airline boarding employees all carry ‘red badges’ that provide access to restricted areas of the airport.
The tragedy has fuelled suspicions of terrorism, especially in light of the bombing of the Russian plane and recent attacks in Paris and Brussels.
However, French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault insisted there is ‘absolutely no indication’ of what caused the crash.
Video footage has emerged showing search crews scouring the ocean for the wreckage of EgyptAir Flight MS804.
This afternoon, Egypt said human remains, wreckage and passengers’ personal belongings had been found floating in the Mediterranean.
The country’s navy had earlier discovered a severed arm, a plane seat and a suitcase, it was reported.
The downed plane may have been knocked out of the sky by an object, an aviation systems expert claims.
Philip Butterworth-Hayes said the aircraft could have plummeted into the ocean after being struck by an external weapon like a missile.
“It could have been hit by a missile or a drone. Something hits it and changes the course,” he said.
However, Hans Kjall, of the Nordic Safety Analysis Group in Sweden, called that scenario ‘relatively unlikely’.
He said the plane’s position over the Mediterranean Sea means a missile strike would have required sophisticated military weapons systems.
“You would need a seaborne missile,” he told the Press Association.
He said that if there was an attack on the plane, it was more likely that it happened inside the aircraft, such as an ‘act of terrorism’.
EgyptAir Flight MS804 is believed to have swerved left, and then right, before plummeting tens of thousands of feet into the ocean.
This sudden lurching suggests that some kind of struggle took place inside the aircraft’s cockpit, claims an aviation security expert.
Philip Baum, editor of Aviation Security International, said the pilots could have been desperately trying to control a plane disabled by an explosion.
This scenario occurred in 1976 when two bombs exploded on a Cuban passenger flight after take-off from Barbados.
In that case, the pilot tried to steer the aircraft away from a beach.
Alternatively, the pilots may have been struggling with someone trying to take control of the plane.
“It could have been a fight in the flight deck between crew members, one suicidal and one not. Or a hijacker trying to gain access,” said Mr Baum.
In 2000, British Airways Flight 2069 from London to Nairobi nosedived and dropped 10,000ft after a deranged passenger burst into the cockpit and grabbed the flight controls. He was overpowered and the flight crew stabilised the plane.
The Egyptian military said no distress call was received from the pilot in the EgyptAir crash. If there was a struggle over the flight controls, that would be understandable, Mr Baum told the Press Association.
“The last thing you are thinking about when you are struggling is to send out a distress signal. The first thing you think about is trying to regain control of the aircraft,” he added.
Many fliers were taking to social media today to defend EgyptAir after yesterday’s horror crash.
Writing on Facebook and Twitter, the passengers vowed to continue using the disaster-hit airline, describing it as ‘one of the best’ in the world.
One user, Hisham Samy El Essawy, from Cairo, Egypt, wrote: “As a person who frequently travels a lot, i still find #EgyptAir one of the best #airlines worldwide. I support #EgyptAir and will always #fly_EgyptAir #prayforegyptair #pray forms804.”
Another user, Koert Debeuf, added: “Just booked an EgyptAir flight from Cairo to Brussels & back for next week. Both Egyptair and Brussels Airport need our support now.”
Mystery remains over why EgyptAir Flight MS804 crashed.
The aircraft had been cruising normally in clear skies on a night-time flight from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared from radar.
Officials later revealed it had lurched left, and then right, before plummeting tens of thousands of feet into the Mediterranean sea.
The plane did not issue a distress signal before it crashed into the ocean, with 66 people, including a British dad-of-two, onboard.
Egyptian authorities and some aviation experts say they believe the tragedy may have been an act of terrorism.
However, no hard evidence has emerged, with no militant group having claimed responsibility, the Press Association reports.
French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said there is ‘absolutely no indication’ of what caused the crash.
The plane’s pilot, Mohammed Shoukair, was experienced, with 6,275 flying hours.
Search crews have found no sign of the bulk of the EgyptAir wreckage so far.
They are also yet to pick up a location signal from the ‘black box’ flight recorders.
Earlier today, Egypt said its navy had found human remains, wreckage and passengers’ personal belongings floating in the Mediterranean.
This was apparent confirmation that Flight MS804 plunged tens of thousands of feet into the sea, with 66 people onboard.
The EgyptAir plane that vanished yesterday had been previously forced to make an emergency landing in Cairo.
The aircraft, which was travelling from the Egyptian capital to Istanbul, turned back to the airport on June 25, 2013.
The broadcaster reports that the plane made the emergency landing due to a ‘technical fault’, which was later repaired.
Colleagues have paid tribute to the British dad-of-two believed to have perished on EgyptAir Flight MS804.
Richard Osman, 40, who grew up in Carmarthen, West Wales, is feared to be among those killed in yesterday’s horror crash.
He is said to have been on his way from Paris to Cairo to work - a trip he took frequently as a geologist with a gold mining firm in Egypt.
Today, his grieving colleagues described him as a ‘top bloke’ who offered them invaluable support and friendship.
Searches are ongoing for the missing Airbus A320, which vanished in the early hours of yesterday morning while flying from Paris to Cairo
EgyptAir flight MS804 was carrying 66 people - including a British dad-of-two - from Paris to Cairo yesterday when it disappeared from radar.
Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry confirmed this afternoon that crews have found human remains in the search for the missing Airbus A320.
The parts, discovered in the Mediterranean sea, were found alongside ‘passengers’ belongings’ and plane seats, the ministry said in a statement.
The search area for the plane - which is believed to have plummeted tens of thousands of feet into the ocean - is currently 40 miles, officials said.
However, this will be expanded as necessary.
The cause of the crash remains unknown, but Egypt says the possibility of a terror attack is 'stronger' than that of a technical failure.
The doomed EgyptAir flight sent a series of error messages over three minutes before disappearing off radar. The messages - received between 2.26am and 2.29am - are at odds with the idea that the aircraft was brought down by a sudden break-up, which would be associated with a bomb explosion Two messages - one at 2.26am and the other at 2.27am - report smoke in the toilet and the avionics bay - which holds control equipment.
Three other messages — two at 2.26am and one at 2.28am — came from window sensors and might suggest heat had damaged the aircraft windows. The final two messages at 2.29am relate to problems with the aircraft’s flight controller.
However, it remains possible that the messages reflect another kind of hostile act or an explosion that started an onboard fire without immediately breaching the aircraft’s fuselage. France's BEA has confirmed the jet signalled smoke on board before it crashed.
However, a spokesman for the agency said: "These messages do not allow in any way to say what may have caused smoke or fire on board the aircraft." He added that the priority now was to find the two flight recorders, containing cockpit voice recordings and data readings, from the Airbus A320.
EgyptAir investigators quizzing Charles de Gaulle airport staff
Police are investigating whether the terrorists behind last year’s Paris attacks met at Charles de Gaulle airport as part of a plot to bring down the tragic EgyptAir flight.
It emerged last night that four members of the ISIS team were at the airport on November 13 last year, two hours before the Paris attacks.
The investigation has fuelled claims IS-supporting airport staff have planted a bomb on board Cairo-bound flight MS804, killing all 66 on board.
Detectives have stated they are certain the trip to the airport was part of a planned operational stop.
A police source in Paris told The Sun last night that thousands of airport staff are being interrogated.
Anti terror judges have also questioned leader Salah Abdeslam, 26, who was captured in Brussels in March and is set to stand trial for orchestrating the attacks that killed 130 people.
The source added: “It is feared the jihadis were coordinating with comrades at the airport.
“Anti-terrorist judges are today interrogating Abdeslam about his links with staff at Charles de Gaulle.”
Experts said answers would come only with an examination of the wreckage and the plane’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders, commonly known as black boxes.
A French navy patrol boat left the port of Toulon on Friday with sonar that can pick up the underwater “pings” emitted by the recorders.
But it will take the vessel two or three days to reach the search zone.
Ships and planes from Egypt, Greece, Britain, France, the United States and Cyprus have taken part in the search for what is left of Flight 804, scouring the waters roughly halfway between the Greek island of Crete and the Egyptian coast.
The waters in the area are 8,000 to 10,000 feet deep and the pings can be detected up to a depth of 20,000 feet.
“Its batteries allow it to transmit for 30 days,” Athanassios Binis, head of Greece’s aviation accident investigation agency, said.
Once a vessel detects the recorders, “the next step would be to pinpoint it and go down with special equipment to recover it”.
Was EgyptAir disaster terror attack or not?
No militant group has claimed to have brought down the aircraft, in contrast to the downing of a Russian jet in October over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that killed 224 people.
In that case, the Islamic State group’s branch in Sinai issued a claim of responsibility within hours.
On Friday, IS issued a statement on clashes with the Egyptian military in Sinai, but nothing about the plane.
Three European security officials said the passenger manifest for Flight 804 contained no names on terrorism watch lists.
The manifest was leaked online and has not been verified by the airline.
Flight data, from an automatic system called the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), said smoke alerts were triggered aboard the EgyptAir jet shortly before it crashed.
ACARS routinely downloads flight data to the airline operating the aircraft.
US officials said an electronic sensor system had detected some kind of disturbance outside the jet around the time investigators believe it began falling from cruising altitude.
They said the disturbance outside the aircraft may have been caused by its sudden and rapid breakup, but it also could have been generated by some kind of mechanical fault or accident or a possible explosion or attack.
The officials asked for anonymity when speaking about the still-evolving investigation.
A screen grab of the flight data transmitted by ACARS to operators on the ground, published on the website of the aviation journal AVHerald.com, indicated failures in the jet’s flight control system and alerts related to smoke in a lavatory and the avionics system, minutes before the crash.
The screen grab provided on the website showed only very terse messages sent from the aircraft, such as “SMOKE LAVATORY SMOKE,” “AVIONICS SMOKE” and “F/CTRL SEC 3 FAULT.”
EgyptAir flight 804 vanished 804 days after MH370 - conspiracy?
A bizarre link has emerged between missing EgyptAir Flight MS804 and Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.
In an apparent incredible coincidence, there are exactly 804 days between the two flights disappearing - the same call sign as the jet in the latest disappearance.
Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 last made voice contact with air traffic control at 5.19pm on March 17 2014, before vanishing without trace.
EgyptAir Flight 804 last made voice contact with air traffic control at around 2.30am on May 19 2016, before disappearing without explanation.
There are exactly 804 days between the two incidents.
How terrorists could have downed EgyptAir flight 804
The world’s anti-terror experts are probing details on how the missing Egypt plane was brought down.
Neither al-Qaeda or Islamic state have claimed responsibility for the crash that killed 66 people.
However, defence officials in Egypt and the US believe a terror attack is the most likely explanation.
But what exactly happened and how could terrorists have taken over control of a plane at 37,000ft from the cabin crew while three security guards were travelling on board?
These are five possible scenarios that are being explored - each as concerning and frightening to contemplate as the other.
Experts hunting for wreckage from the missing EgyptAir plane still have no idea what happened more than 24 hours into their search.
Yesterday aviation analysts believed the Flight 804 was blown up over the Mediterranean while rescue teams reported possible sightings of debris and bodies.
But now the initial wreckage reports were confirmed as false and US military experts have denied knowledge that any explosion has been detected.
Facts have been scarce to come by since flight carrying 66 people from Paris to Cairo vanished from radar screens at 2.33am local time on Thursday morning.
The facts are that the flight took off at 9.09pm from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport for what should have been a routine flight.
What IS known so far is this:
- There is categorically NO sign of a crash
- There have been NO confirmed sightings of wreckage from the plane
- There are simply NO facts to back up explosion theories
- There was NO distress call made from the crew or any sign something was amiss
- NOTHING has been heard of from the crew since it entered Egyptian airspace.
Dad of disabled children was heading for three-day break in Cairo
Kuwaiti economist Abdel Mohsen al-Sohaili was travelling to Cairo for a three-day break.
His family say the father, whose two children were both disabled, was onboard the jet.
His nephew Masharei al-Sohaili told the New York Times: “He was happy to come. He had his two kids. Both disabled.”
It emerged last night that EgyptAir 804 may have suffered an on-board fire after smoke was recorded in a bathroom just moments before it vanished.
The mystery bears similarities to the SwissAir 111 disaster in 1998.
The flight took off from JFK airport and then began to fly over the Atlantic Ocean, but a little less than an hour into the flight the crew noticed smoke in the cockpit and issued the international urgency signal.
They were cleared to proceed to the airport in Halifax but crashed into the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean off Nova Scotia, killing all 229 people on board.
The smoke was determined to have been caused by a fire above the cockpit which blackened out the pilot flight screens.
Egyptian Armed Forces and the Navy are still combing the search site for more remains of the EgyptAir plane.
Newlywed flight attendant among those on board
It is thought flight attendant Samar Ezz El-Deen was onboard the plane when it disappeared.
Relative Mervat Moamen says el-Deen had recently got married and said her family were still hoping she had been kidnapped and was still alive.
Cabin manager had just been promoted
Mervat Zakaria was the cabin manager on the plane and had been promoted just a month before the jet crashed into the Meditteranean.
She is a former TV actress who stared as a troubled teenage girl in the Egyptian drama Abu El Ela El-Bashery.
The mother-of-one left her role as an actress, however to become an air hostess with the airline.
She is thought to be married.
British RAF jet and UK warship join in search
A British RAF C-130 Hercules plane and UK warship Royal Fleet Auxiliary Lyme Bay are among the military crews helping in the EgyptAir search operation.
They were joined by Egyptian and French military units today as they scoured waters by Greece’s Karpathos island.
This afternoon, Egypt said human remains, wreckage and passengers’ personal belongings had been found floating in the Mediterranean.
The country’s navy had earlier discovered a severed arm, a plane seat and a suitcase, it was reported.
'Not enough being done to clamp down on Cairo's corrupt system' - security expert
The investigation into the EgyptAir plane crash is now sharply focused on terrorism after human remains and debris were found in the Mediterranean Sea.
Experts are now convinced extremists broke through international security systems, planted a bomb on Flight MS804 and sent 56 passengers and ten crew members to their deaths.
The main suspect for where the bomb could have been planted is Cairo airport, where American and Israeli security experts are helping investigators try to sift out any Islamist extremists.
One former British intelligence officer told the Daily Mirror: “Egyptian government employees have always had extremist Islamic elements and have to come under suspicion.
“I would be looking at who vets the security and ground staff in Egypt.
“Not enough has been done there to clamp down on an horrifically easy-going and corrupt system there.”
Data 'suggests plane suffered on-board fire'
EgyptAir Flight MS804 may have suffered an on-board fire after smoke was recorded in a bathroom just moments before it vanished, it is reported.
The plane apparently sent auto signals indicating smoke in a lavatory close to its electronics and engineering ‘E&E’ bay shortly after entering Egyptian airspace.
Seconds later, avionics compartment smoke was detected, followed by a warning that the flight control units were failing, according to the Aviation Herald.
Experts say this suggests a fire broke out on-board the plane in the minutes before it is believed to have plummeted tens of thousands of feet into the sea.
The aviation blog claims to have published Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages from the doomed A320.
It says the data was passed on by three independent sources, although the Mirror Online cannot verify its authenticity.
British dad-of-two had 'laughed off family's worries of possible terror attack'
The British father killed in the EgyptAir disaster previously laughed off his family’s worries of a possible terror attack.
Richard Osman’s wife Aureilie, 36, had warned him to be careful whenever he travelled abroad on business.
But the 40-year-old geologist shrugged off her fears, chillingly saying: “It is never going to happen to me.”
Athena Richard Osman with his wife Aurelie Richard Osman with his wife Aurelie
Richard and 65 fellow passengers and crew died when Flight MS804 plunged into the Mediterranean on Thursday morning.
He had become a father for the second time just three weeks earlier and was on his first overseas trip after paternity leave.
Richard’s brother, Alistair, said: “Aureilie had warned him to be careful but he took the view that it’s never going to happen to you. He just laughed it off.”
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Wreckage could have sunk as deep as 14,000 feet
The EgyptAir crash site is in one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean Sea.
The wreckage of the plane is likely to have sunk up to a staggering 14,000 feet.
Smoke 'detected inside plane bathroom moments before crash'
Smoke was detected inside a bathroom on EgyptAir Flight MS804 just minutes before its last transmission, it is claimed.
Data bursts reported smoke coming from one of the lavatories of the doomed jet, according to the Aviation Herald.
The aviation blog claims to have published Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages from the plane.
An international security expert tweeted an image of the alleged messages, as shown on MSNBC, writing: “Smoke in the lavatory then spread for at least 3min.”
Was jet's downing an inside job?
A leading aviation expert has raised concerns that the EgyptAir plane could have been downed following an inside job by a member of staff.
Mike Vivian, who is the former head of flight operations for the Civil Aviation Authority, said the notion that somebody on the plane or at the airport helped launch a devastating terror attack was ‘a major worry’.
His comments, made earlier today, came as officials in France focused on whether a possible breach of security happened at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport.
Mike Vivian is the former head of flight operations for the Civil Aviation Authority
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Mr Vivian was asked if it could be ‘an inside job’.
He replied: “Well, that is a really interesting question and it is a worry that has been in security minds for a long time now.
“It is a major worry and I do not think it is insignificant that lots of people at Paris Charles de Gaulle lost their airside pass because of radicalisation.
“The question has to be how did they get their in the first place and what sort of screening is going on vis-a-vis these airport employees.”
Mr Vivian said he believe the plane could have been downed because of a hijack situation or a struggle.
He also admitted that despite security around cockpits hardening since 9/11, they are not completely secure.
Search continues nearly two days after doomed flight took off
The search continued this evening for EgyptAir Flight MS804 - nearly two days after the doomed flight took off from Paris.
The plane swerved and plummeted into the ocean just hours after departing from Charles de Gaulle Airport on Wednesday night.
The 66 people lost aboard the plane included a businessman adored by his colleagues, a language and history scholar, and a mother caring for a daughter with cancer.
Egypt says its navy has so far found human remains, suitcases, plane seats and personal belongings in the search for the plane wreckage.
Staff quizzed at Paris airport
Investigators have started checking and questioning ground staff at at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, it is reported.
They are quizzing anyone who had either a direct or an indirect link to EgyptAir Flight 804 before it took off on Wednesday night, officials said.
Workers including baggage handlers, maintenance staff, gate agents, security guards and airline boarding employees all carry ‘red badges’ that provide access to restricted areas of the airport.
ReutersCharles de Gaulle International AirportCharles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris
The tragedy has fuelled suspicions of terrorism, especially in light of the bombing of the Russian plane and recent attacks in Paris and Brussels.
However, French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault insisted there is ‘absolutely no indication’ of what caused the crash.
Video footage has emerged showing search crews scouring the ocean for the wreckage of EgyptAir Flight MS804.
This afternoon, Egypt said human remains, wreckage and passengers’ personal belongings had been found floating in the Mediterranean.
The country’s navy had earlier discovered a severed arm, a plane seat and a suitcase, it was reported.
Plane may have been 'knocked out of the sky'
The downed plane may have been knocked out of the sky by an object, an aviation systems expert claims.
Philip Butterworth-Hayes said the aircraft could have plummeted into the ocean after being struck by an external weapon like a missile.
“It could have been hit by a missile or a drone. Something hits it and changes the course,” he said.
However, Hans Kjall, of the Nordic Safety Analysis Group in Sweden, called that scenario ‘relatively unlikely’.
He said the plane’s position over the Mediterranean Sea means a missile strike would have required sophisticated military weapons systems.
“You would need a seaborne missile,” he told the Press Association.
He said that if there was an attack on the plane, it was more likely that it happened inside the aircraft, such as an ‘act of terrorism’.
Did MS804 crash after cockpit struggle?
EgyptAir Flight MS804 is believed to have swerved left, and then right, before plummeting tens of thousands of feet into the ocean.
This sudden lurching suggests that some kind of struggle took place inside the aircraft’s cockpit, claims an aviation security expert.
Philip Baum, editor of Aviation Security International, said the pilots could have been desperately trying to control a plane disabled by an explosion.
This scenario occurred in 1976 when two bombs exploded on a Cuban passenger flight after take-off from Barbados.
In that case, the pilot tried to steer the aircraft away from a beach.
Alternatively, the pilots may have been struggling with someone trying to take control of the plane.
The missing EgyptAir plane in 2012The missing EgyptAir plane in 2012
“It could have been a fight in the flight deck between crew members, one suicidal and one not. Or a hijacker trying to gain access,” said Mr Baum.
In 2000, British Airways Flight 2069 from London to Nairobi nosedived and dropped 10,000ft after a deranged passenger burst into the cockpit and grabbed the flight controls. He was overpowered and the flight crew stabilised the plane.
The Egyptian military said no distress call was received from the pilot in the EgyptAir crash. If there was a struggle over the flight controls, that would be understandable, Mr Baum told the Press Association.
“The last thing you are thinking about when you are struggling is to send out a distress signal. The first thing you think about is trying to regain control of the aircraft,” he added.
Fliers defend EgyptAir after horror crash
Many fliers were taking to social media today to defend EgyptAir after yesterday’s horror crash.
Writing on Facebook and Twitter, the passengers vowed to continue using the disaster-hit airline, describing it as ‘one of the best’ in the world.
One user, Hisham Samy El Essawy, from Cairo, Egypt, wrote: “As a person who frequently travels a lot, i still find #EgyptAir one of the best #airlines worldwide. I support #EgyptAir and will always #fly_EgyptAir #prayforegyptair #pray forms804.”
Another user, Koert Debeuf, added: “Just booked an EgyptAir flight from Cairo to Brussels & back for next week. Both Egyptair and Brussels Airport need our support now.”
Mystery surrounds EgyptAir crash
Mystery remains over why EgyptAir Flight MS804 crashed.
The aircraft had been cruising normally in clear skies on a night-time flight from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared from radar.
Officials later revealed it had lurched left, and then right, before plummeting tens of thousands of feet into the Mediterranean sea.
The plane did not issue a distress signal before it crashed into the ocean, with 66 people, including a British dad-of-two, onboard.
AFPFrench Foreign minister Jean-Marc AyraultJean-Marc Ayrault said there is ‘absolutely no indication’ of what caused the crash
Egyptian authorities and some aviation experts say they believe the tragedy may have been an act of terrorism.
However, no hard evidence has emerged, with no militant group having claimed responsibility, the Press Association reports.
French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said there is ‘absolutely no indication’ of what caused the crash.
The plane’s pilot, Mohammed Shoukair, was experienced, with 6,275 flying hours.
17:46 SOPHIE EVANS
No sign of bulk of plane wreckage
Search crews have found no sign of the bulk of the EgyptAir wreckage so far.
They are also yet to pick up a location signal from the ‘black box’ flight recorders.
Earlier today, Egypt said its navy had found human remains, wreckage and passengers’ personal belongings floating in the Mediterranean.
This was apparent confirmation that Flight MS804 plunged tens of thousands of feet into the sea, with 66 people onboard.
EgyptAir plane 'previously made emergency landing in Cairo'
The EgyptAir plane that vanished yesterday had been previously forced to make an emergency landing in Cairo, the BBC reports.
The aircraft, which was travelling from the Egyptian capital to Istanbul, turned back to the airport on June 25, 2013.
The broadcaster reports that the plane made the emergency landing due to a ‘technical fault’, which was later repaired.
Philip Hammond has tweeted his support to Richard Osman’s family.
The Foreign Secretary said his thoughts were with the family and friends of the geologist, who is feared to have died in yesterday’s crash.
He tweeted: “Thoughts are with family & friends of British national Richard Osman during this extremely difficult time #Egypt #MS804.”
Colleagues have paid tribute to the British dad-of-two believed to have perished on EgyptAir Flight MS804.
Richard Osman, 40, who grew up in Carmarthen, West Wales, is feared to be among those killed in yesterday’s horror crash.
He is said to have been on his way from Paris to Cairo to work - a trip he took frequently as a geologist with a gold mining firm in Egypt.
Today, his grieving colleagues described him as a ‘top bloke’ who offered them invaluable support and friendship.
Posting an image of himself and Richard in Egypt, Mostafa Mohamed Talaat wrote on Facebook: “One of the reasons why I work in Mining was the support I got from Richard Osman, RIP Richard you been one of the effective people in the Gold Mining Industry in Egypt.”
Meanwhile, Eil Élías Schiemer said on Twitter: “Geo Richard Osman was friend & colleague topartner (sic). all around top bloke who will be missed.”
And Bill Brown posted: “RIP Richard Osman, tragically killed in the Egypt air crash. I knew him from our Alexandria rugby club days, he was a great bloke. Sincere condolences to his family.”
