Body part, suitcases spotted in search for missing EgyptAir flight

UPDATE: Egyptian search crews have located debris—including a body part, two seats and suitcases—180 miles north of the city of Alexandria, in the Mediterranean Sea.

Crews spotted the debris field just south of where EgyptAir Flight 804 was though to have crashed early Thursday. The plane was traveling from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew members on board.

Three French and three British investigators, along with an Airbus technical expert, traveled to Egypt yesterday to help with the investigation into what happened. According to initial reports, the pilot did not mention to air traffic controllers any technical problems before the plane went down, suggesting a catastrophic incident. But French officials said no one should jump to the conclusion a bomb or other act of terror brought down the plane, insisting investigators need more evidence before they can make an assessment.

UPDATE (5:30 p.m., May 19): A Greek aviation official said late today the debris found near the place where EgyptAir Flight 804 went down in the Mediterranean Sea this morning did not come from an aircraft.

Search crews initially thought the lifejackets and plastic pieces floating in the water signaled they had discovered the crash site.

Amid ongoing speculation about whether a terror attack brought down the plane, the ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee said he has read conflicting accounts of the flight’s last few minutes. Initial reports indicated the plane swooped and rolled before falling precipitously into the water. Now U.S. agencies are looking at satellite images for any signs of the plane before, or during, its descent.

“We are looking through our intelligence collections to figure out if we have any images,” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said. “Do we have any signals intelligence that reveals a discussion of a plot like this?”

U.S. intelligence officials also are working with their French counterparts to vet the plane’s passengers for any connections to known terrorists, Schiff said.

UPDATE (2:15 p.m., May 19): Search crews believe they have located the crash site of EgyptAir Flight 804, which was flying from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea early today.

Egypt’s Civil Aviation ministry announced the discovery of “floating material,” including life jackets and plastic items, off the Greek island of Karpathos. Although the location is close to where officials believe the EgyptAir flight went down, they can’t yet say for sure whether the items came from the Airbus A320. The plane was carrying 66 passengers and crew.

While analysts speculate about the cause of the accident, experts insist it’s still too early to tell whether a bomb or a mechanical or technical failure brought the plane down.

France is sending experts to Egypt, which will be responsible for organizing the search for the plane’s black boxes and conducting the investigation into what happened. U.S. officials also have offered assistance.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (9:20 a.m., May 19): Egyptian officials said this morning they have not ruled out any possibilities in the crash of an EgyptAir passenger plane, including a terrorist attack. Flight 804, an Airbus A320, was carrying 66 people from Paris to Cairo early this morning when it suddenly lost altitude and crashed into the Mediterranean Sea near the Greek island of Crete.

“It turned 90 degrees left and then a 360 degree turn toward the right, dropping from 38,000 to 15,000 feet and then it was lost at about 10,000 feet,” Greek defense minister Panos Kammenos said.

Egyptian military aircraft and navy ships are taking part in a search for the plane’s debris off Egypt’s Mediterranean coast. The pilot had more than 6,000 flight hours.

An EgyptAir plane was hijacked and diverted to Cyprus in March. A man who admitted to the hijacking is in custody in Cyprus. The incident renewed security concerns at Egyptian airports after a Russian passenger plane crashed in Sinai last October, killing all 224 people on board. Moscow said it was brought down by an explosive device, and a local branch of the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for planting it.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.