Egypt deploys submarine to find crashed jet’s black boxes

A submarine belonging to Egypt’s Oil Ministry that could operate at a depth of 3,000 metres under the sea level had been deployed for the purpose, Sisi said in a live televised address, also his first public comments on Thursday’s crash.

“This (submarine) moved today in the direction of the plane crash because we are working hard to retrieve the two boxes, which are the black boxes,” he said, in remarks that began with a minute of silence, adding: “All the theories are possible.” “There is no particular theory we can affirm right now,” he added, even as the Egyptian aviation minister had earlier said that terrorism was more likely than technical failure in causing the ill-fated EgyptAir Flight MS804, en route from Paris to Cairo, to plunge into the waters.

Investigators continued to piece together clues for a potential breakthrough even as some reports of an audio from the jet and even of locating the black boxes emerged.

Multinational searchers scouring the waters 290 kms north of Alexandria have made headway by recovering debris, passengers’ belongings, body parts, luggage and aircraft seats from the jet, that initially went ‘missing’ and was later declared crashed.

Sisi said “it is very, very important to us to establish the circumstances that led to the crash of that aircraft” even as he pointed out it “will take time” to determine the exact cause of the tragedy that has seen no survivors.

His remarks come a day after French authorities also said “all theories are being examined and none is favoured”. Smoke was detected inside the cabin of the Airbus A320 minutes before it plunged into the Mediterranean Sea with 66 people on board, including children.

France’s aviation safety agency said the plane had transmitted automated messages indicating smoke in the cabin and the pilot’s flight control unit. However, reports said the first available audio from the plane showed the pilot in normal contact with Swiss air traffic controllers, hours before officials lost contact with the jet.

Control: “EgyptAir804 contact Padova 1-2-0, decimal 7-2-5, good night.” Pilot: “This is 0-7-2-5 Padova control. (Unintelligible) 8-0-4. Thank you so much. Good day, er, good night.” 

This and the smoke alerts indicate a sudden, dramatic turn of events that led to the plane making “sudden swerves” before dropping off radar over the Mediterranean. It made a 90-degree turn left, and then dropped from 37,000 feet to 15,000 feet before swerving 360 degrees right.