Debris found in Mediterranean does not belong to missing EgyptAir jet

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Debris found off the coast of Greece Thursday, originally believed to be from a missing EygptAir jet, does not belong to an airplane, Greek officials said.

Egyptian officials said Thursday afternoon that wreckage of EgyptAir Flight 804 was discovered near the Greek island Karpathos. But the discovered debris did not come from an aircraft, Greek officials told the AP later Thursday.

{mosads}A senior airline official told CNN by phone on Thursday evening that debris found in the Mediterranean Sea was not from the passenger jet.

“We stand corrected on finding the wreckage, because what we identified is not a part of our plane. So the search and rescue is still going on,” EgyptAir Vice President Ahmed Adel said on CNN’s “The Lead.”

He indicated that information the airline received through official channels had changed after officials realized it wasn’t debris from the aircraft.

A U.S. review of satellite imagery has so far not shown any signs of an explosion aboard the flight, officials from multiple U.S. agencies told Reuters based on a preliminary review. 

Search efforts to locate the plane, which was heading from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared from radar, are ongoing.

“EGYPTAIR sincerely conveys its deepest sorrow to the families and friends of the passengers onboard Flight MS804,” the airline said in a statement posted to its website.
The airline said family members of the 66 passengers and crew had been informed of the plane’s crash.
 
Speculation surrounding the plane’s disappearance has centered on terrorism, though U.S. officials have yet to acknowledge that as the case.
 
— Updated at 5:33 p.m.
Tags Terrorism

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