Crashed EgyptAir beacon detected in Mediterranean

Egyptians look at posters of the 66 victims of the EgyptAir MS804 flight that crashed in the Mediterranean Sea during a candlelight vigil near the Cairo Opera House. (Photo: AFP)

A French vessel that joined the search for the EgyptAir plane which crashed last week, killing all 66 people on board arrived on Friday in the crash area, as Egyptian officials said search teams in the Mediterranean have picked up a beacon believed to be from the doomed aircraft.

According to Egyptian security officials, the French ship is carrying equipment that can find flight data and cockpit voice recorders — the so-called “black boxes.”

French officials could not be immediately reached to confirm the ship’s whereabouts.

Meanwhile, the chief investigator in Egypt said search teams in the Mediterranean have picked up a beacon believed to be from the EgyptAir Flight 804.

Locating a beacon has narrowed the search to a 5 kilometer radius, said Ayman al-Moqadem, stressing that this doesn’t mean the black boxes have been found, which he said requires highly sophisticated technology.

The signal that was picked up came from one of the devices on the plane transmitting its location, al-Moqadem told the reporters.

Eight days after the plane crashed off Egypt’s northern coast on a Paris to Cairo flight, the cause of the tragedy still has not been determined. Ships and planes from Egypt, Greece, France, the US and other nations have been searching the Mediterranean north of the port of Alexandria for the jet’s voice and flight data recorders, as well as bodies and parts of the jet.

Pieces of the wreckage and human remains had been recovered while the bulk of the plane and the bodies are believed to be deep under the sea.