CAIRO, Egypt – Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sharif Fathi has called on people not to make up conspiracy theories and to wait for the results of the investigation of the EgyptAir flight crash. However, he added that no โimportantโ evidence has been found so far.
The minister stressed that โsmokeโ that was reportedly detected on board the EgyptAir plane before the catastrophe only indicates that โsomethingโ happened with the aircraft and that investigation should no focus on finding out what may have caused this smoke and not on developing โconspiracyโฆ or unrealistic theories.โ
โIf you want me today to make a statement based on nonsense, then I will tell you [it was a] terrorist attack. But if you want to make statements based on sense and based on facts, then we have to wait and see,โ Fathi told journalists.
He also urged โeverybodyโ to โbe proficientโ and to wait until the investigation team collects and analyzes the relevant data as well as retrieves the black box and other necessary devices.
At the same time, he admitted that the rescue teams have not been able to find any โimportant devicesโ so far that could shed the light on the root causes of the incident, although they are โcontinuing and widening the searchโ and โretrieve some wreckages and human remains.โ
The minister also emphasized that locating the black box under the water in such location, where the plane crushed, โis a challenge by itself,โ adding that special equipment is need for such an operation. According to Fathi, a French vessel with the necessary devices on board is heading towards the crash site. The minister also said that the wreck of the aircraft may lie as deep as โ3,000 feetโ (900 meters) in the Mediterranean.
In the meantime, reports about smoke on the EgyptAir plane before its crash were confirmed by Franceโs Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for civil aviation safety (BEA).
The Egyptian army has also released first photos of the wreckage of Flight MS804 and passengersโ belongings on Facebook.
EgyptAir Flight MS804, en route from Parisโs Charles de Gaulle Airport to Cairo, dropped off radar screens early on Thursday in Egypt’s airspace. The search operation for the crashed aircraft, involving the Egyptian, French, Greek and US navies, has been ongoing for three days and covers the southern part of the Mediterranean.
On Friday, Egyptโs Civil Aviation Ministry said that the Egyptian search teams found human remains and passengersโ belongings. Later the Egyptian military said it had identified a search area to recover EgyptAir Airbus A320’s flight recorders.