‘Smoke on board’ EgyptAir plane before crash

Smoke was detected inside an EgyptAir plane shortly before it plunged into the Mediterranean with 66 people on board, investigators said yesterday, offering clues but no answers about why it crashed, reports AFP from Cairo.
The Airbus A320 had been flying from Paris to Cairo early Thursday when it plummeted and turned full circle before vanishing from radar screens, without its crew sending a distress signal.
Egypt's military released pictures of wreckage recovered so far, including a pink bag decorated with butterflies, a life vest, shredded seat covers and mangled debris showing the EgyptAir name.
France's aviation safety agency said Flight MS804 had transmitted automated messages indicating smoke in the cabin as the disaster unfolded.
While the information may help investigators, more wreckage including the black boxes will need to be found before they can piece together what happened.
"There were ACARS messages emitted by the plane indicating that there was smoke in the cabin shortly before data transmission broke off," a spokesman for France's Bureau of Investigations and Analysis told AFP.
It was "far too soon to interpret and understand the cause of the accident as long as we have not found the wreckage or the flight data recorders," he said.
ACARS, which stands for Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, transmits short messages between aircraft and ground stations.
Search teams were scouring the eastern Mediterranean on Saturday for more parts of the plane and the black boxes.
While Egypt's aviation minister has pointed to terrorism as more likely than technical failure, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Saturday that nothing was being ruled out.
"At this time... all theories are being examined and none is favoured," he told a news conference in Paris after meeting with relatives of passengers.
The disaster comes just seven months after the bombing of a Russian passenger jet over Egypt's Sinai peninsula in October that killed all 224 people on board.
The Islamic State group was quick to claim responsibility for the attack, but there has been no such claim linked to the EgyptAir crash.
Relatives of the passengers on the EgyptAir flight gathered at a hotel near Cairo airport after meeting airline officials as they struggled to come to terms with the catastrophe.

Smoke on board EgyptAir plane before crash

Smoke was detected inside an EgyptAir plane shortly before it plunged into the Mediterranean with 66 people on board, investigators said yesterday, offering clues but no answers about why it crashed, reports AFP from Cairo. The Airbus A320 had been flying from Paris to Cairo early Thursday when it plummeted and turned full circle before vanishing from radar screens, without its crew sending a distress signal. Egypts military released pictures of wreckage recovered so far, including a pink bag decorated with butterflies, a life vest, shredded seat covers and mangled debris showing the EgyptAir name. Frances aviation safety agency said Flight MS804 had transmitted automated messages indicating smoke in the cabin as the disaster unfolded. While the information may help investigators, more wreckage including the black boxes will need to be found before they can piece together what happened. There were ACARS messages emitted by the plane indicating that there was smoke in the cabin shortly before data transmission broke off, a spokesman for Frances Bureau of Investigations and Analysis told AFP. It was far too soon to interpret and understand the cause of the accident as long as we have not found the wreckage or the flight data recorders, he said. ACARS, which stands for Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, transmits short messages between aircraft and ground stations. Search teams were scouring the eastern Mediterranean on Saturday for more parts of the plane and the black boxes. While Egypts aviation minister has pointed to terrorism as more likely than technical failure, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Saturday that nothing was being ruled out. At this time... all theories are being examined and none is favoured, he told a news conference in Paris after meeting with relatives of passengers. The disaster comes just seven months after the bombing of a Russian passenger jet over Egypts Sinai peninsula in October that killed all 224 people on board. The Islamic State group was quick to claim responsibility for the attack, but there has been no such claim linked to the EgyptAir crash. Relatives of the passengers on the EgyptAir flight gathered at a hotel near Cairo airport after meeting airline officials as they struggled to come to terms with the catastrophe.