Search for EgyptAir Black Boxes Goes On, Officials Troubled

Investigative units including robot submarines are trying to find the two black boxes of EgyptAir Flight MS804, which disappeared from radars half an hour before its scheduled landing in Cairo last week killing 66 people on board.

“We are moving hard to retrieve the two boxes,” Egyptian President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi told a news conference.

Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sharif Fathi, who has repeatedly stressed the need to avoid conspiracy theories, did say the possibility of a terrorist act was stronger than that of a technical failure, while the probe has revealed that smoke was detected in various parts of the cabin, including inside an under-floor equipment compartment, three minutes before it disappeared. French authorities have also said that it is premature to interpret the available evidence.

At the same time, experts are confused as to why the automated warning system on board the airbus issued only a handful of messages flagging problems.

The plane’s captain, Mohamed Said Shoukair, did not send a distress signal.

President el-Sisi said there is “no particular theory we can affirm right now”, adding that establishing the cause of the fatal crash could take a long time,  and that all scenarios were possible.

The search has thus far located body parts, luggage, life vests, personal items and debris in the Mediterranean Sea.

Meanwhile, Paris airports authority said it will not heighten security after the EgyptAir crash.