There was smoke in plane cabin before crash, probe shows

CAIRO

Three days after an EgyptAir flight plunged into the Mediterranean with 66 people on board, search teams scoured the sea for bodies and clues on why the plane crashed.

The Airbus A320 was en route from Paris to Cairo early on Thursday when it plummeted and turned full circle before vanishing from radar screens, without its crew sending a distress signal.

France’s aviation safety agency said Flight MS804 transmitted automated messages indicating smoke in the cabin as the disaster unfolded.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said the search — which has already yielded “pieces of the aircraft, body parts, belongings of the dead” would continue until black boxes were found.

“The search is ongoing... It will continue until we can ascertain where the plane went down and the effort to extract the black box and the data recording,” Shoukry said.

Asked about the reported smoke, he said: “I’m not certain it can be conclusive. But it is certainly an important element in the puzzle that has to be fully compiled.”

What brought down the plane remains the main question. Egypt’s aviation minister has said terrorism is more likely than technical failure.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said: “All theories are being examined and none is favoured.”

The disaster came seven months after the bombing of a Russian airliner over Sinai peninsula in October that killed 224 people.

The Islamic State group was quick to claim responsibility for that attack, but there has been no such claim linked to the Thursday EgyptAir crash.