EGYPT has said terrorism was more likely than a technical fault to have caused a flight from Paris to Cairo to plunge into the Mediterranean Sea yesterday with 66 people on board.
The EgyptAir plane was en route from Paris to Cairo when it vanished overnight.
Greek and Egyptian officials have given conflicting accounts of debris found in the Mediterranean following the disappearance of an EgyptAir flight.
Greece’s lead air accident investigator Athanasios Binis said the wreckage found near the Greek island of Karpathos was not from the Airbus A320.
But earlier, Egyptian officials said debris from the jet had been found.
EgyptAir, which gave confirmation of the finding of debris through contact with Egyptian authorities, said: “EgyptAir sincerely conveys its deepest sorrow to the families and friends of the passengers onboard Flight MS804.
“Family members of passengers and crew have been already informed and we extend our deepest sympathies to those affected.”
The Egyptian investigation team, in co-operation with its Greek counterpart, were continuing a search for other remains of the missing plane.
France’s Accident Investigating Bureau has sent a team of three investigators to Cairo, accompanied by a technical expert from Airbus.
Egypt’s aviation minister, Sherif Fathi, said he did not want to prematurely draw conclusions, but added: “If you analyse the situation properly, the possibility of having a different action, or having a terror attack, is higher than the possibility of having a technical [fault].”
Alexander Bortnikov, chief of Russia’s top domestic security agency, went further, saying: “In all likelihood it was a terror attack.”
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump rushed to blame the crash on “an act of terrorism” and later US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton declared: “It does appear that it was an act of terrorism.”
The plane was carrying 56 passengers including two babies and a child and 10 crew: two cockpit crew, five cabin crew and three security personnel.
Most of the flight’s passengers were Egyptian or French.
Richard Osman, 40, the Welsh victim of the EgyptAir crash, was described as a “kind, loving” father-of-two who was “admired by many”.
He had become a father for the second time just a month ago.
His brother Alastair said he also had a 14-month-old daughter with his wife Aurelie – who was the one who raised the alarm when the news first broke that his flight had gone missing.
Speaking of suggestions the plane may have been targeted in a terrorist attack, he said: “This is the reality of Isis (Islamic State) and groups like that.
“It’s indiscriminate. They don’t think any of these people have family members, or a past, or a history of hopes and dreams. It’s indiscriminate. It happens, you know what I mean – I still really can’t believe that it has actually, or there’s a great possibility that it has happened.”
French President Francois Hollande said that it “could be a terrorist hypothesis”.
He added: “But at this stage we should express our solidarity to the families and to find out the cause of the catastrophe.”
The plane, on its fifth journey of the day, was travelling at 37,000 feet when it disappeared from radar. It had made a stop in Tunisia before flying to Paris.
Search teams in the area were reported to have sighted debris, including life jackets, from the plane.
“There have been finds south-east of Crete, inside the Cairo flight information area,” Greek army general staff spokesman Vassilis Beletsiotis said.
The search in seas south of the Greek island of Karpathos involves Greek and Egyptian naval forces, and the British Royal Air Force.
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