CAIRO // Search crews on Friday found human remains, luggage and passenger seats from the EgyptAir jetliner that fell out of the sky over the Mediterranean Sea, as investigators tried to determine whether the crash was the work of terrorists.
With no bodies to bury yet, relatives and friends of some of the 66 people on board held special prayers in mosques for the lost.
But the mystery remained over why the Airbus A320 – which had been cruising normally in clear skies on a nighttime flight from Paris to Cairo early on Thursday – suddenly lurched left, then right, and plummeted into the sea, never issuing a distress signal.
Egyptian authorities said they believe it may have been an act of terrorism, as have Russian officials and some aviation experts, but so far no hard evidence has emerged.
No militant group has claimed to have brought down the aircraft. That is a contrast to the downing of a Russian jet in October over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that killed 224 people. In that case, ISIL’s branch in Sinai issued a claim of responsibility within hours.
European security officials said the passenger manifest for EgyptAir Flight 804 contained no names on terrorism watch lists. The manifest was leaked online and has not been verified by the airline.
Still, the tragedy has fuelled suspicions of terrorism, especially after the bombing of the Russian plane and the recent terror attacks in Paris and Brussels. Some aviation experts have said the erratic flight suggests a bomb blast or a struggle in the cockpit.
French aviation investigators have begun to check and question all baggage handlers, maintenance workers, gate agents and other ground crew at Paris’ Charles De Gaulle Airport who had a direct or indirect link to the plane before it took off, according to a French judicial official.
Experts said answers would come only with examination of the wreckage and the plane’s black box recorders. But retrieving them may take time. The water is 2,400 to 3,000 metres deep in the area where the aircraft is thought to have gone down, roughly halfway between Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria and the Greek island of Crete.
The Egyptian army said it found debris around 290 kilometres north of Alexandria. EgyptAir said luggage and seats were located, as well as body parts.
France, Greece, Italy, Cyprus and Britain have joined the search, which encompasses a wide area south of Crete. Investigators from Egypt, France and Britain as well from Airbus will examine everything found, Egyptian officials said.
In Egypt, home to 30 of those on the flight, civil aviation minister Sherif Fathi told relatives there were no survivors, the Al Masry Al Youm newspaper said.
In several mosques around the Egyptian capital, families and friends of the victims held prayers known as Salat Al Ghaib – those held for the dead when there is no body.
At the Al Thawra mosque in Cairo’s Heliopolis district, mourners wept as they prayed for a family of four who were killed – Salah Abu Laban, his wife, Sahar Qouidar, their son Ghassan Abu Laban and daughter-in-law Reem Al Sebaei.
“I ask God for forgiveness. This is very hard for the family,” said Abdel-Rahman Al Nasry, a relative.
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s office issued a statement expressing its condolences to relatives and its “deep regret and sadness for the victims”.
“God give great mercy and host them in his heaven,” it added.
It was the first official recognition by Egypt’s government that the missing plane had crashed.
Amid fears that a security lapse in Paris may have led to the tragedy, France’s junior minister for transport, Alain Vidalies, defended security at De Gaulle Airport, saying staff badges were revoked if there was the slightest doubt.
French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault asserted on French television that there was “absolutely no indication” of what caused the crash.
The pilot, Mohammed Shoukair, had 6,275 hours of flying experience and co-pilot Ahmed Assem had clocked 2,101, officials said.
A terror analyst who is in contact with members of ISIL and other extremist groups said there had been “no credible or even semi-credible” claims of responsibility for the tragedy.
Shiraz Maher at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation in London said ISIL issued a 20-minute video on Thursday about its plans to conquer India.
“If they had been involved in the crash,” he said, “it would be very odd for them to have sent that video rather than boasting of the crash.”
* Associated Press
