Debris from EgyptAir Flight 804 -- which crashed in the Mediterranean with 66 people aboard on Thursday -- has been found by Egyptian forces, the military says. Here's what we know so far:
-- Passenger belongings and aircraft parts were found 180 miles north of Alexandria, military says.
-- Plane swerved sharply then plunged from 37,000 feet to 10,000 feet after entering Cairo airspace, Greek officials say.
-- Cause of crash is more likely terrorism than technical fault, Egyptian and U.S. officials believe.
-- Airbus A320 made stops in Eritrea and Tunisia prior to taking off from Paris.
Egyptian authorities have found a body part and part of an aircraft seat, Greek Defence Ministry spokesperson Jorgo Poulos tells CNN. Poulos said this information was given to them by Egyptian authorities. Greek military bases on Crete are at the disposal of the Egypt-led search teams if needed to assist the effort, she added.
Update from Paris airport
CNN’s Max Foster at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris explains that Flight 804 was sat on the tarmac for 1.5 hours before it left for Egypt. He said investigators will be trying to work out who had access to the aircraft while it was waiting.
Meanwhile terrorism analyst Paul Cruikshank says there’s no solid evidence that Flight 804 was brought down by terrorism. “Intriguingly there’s been no credible claim of responsibility -- and that includes ISIS.”
This echoes an earlier report from CNN's Nic Robertson during his live Facebook chat.
“There’s no evidence of a bomb that we are aware of yet" said Robertson in Crete.
"The two black boxes, the voice recorder and the data recorder on board the aircraft -- when they hit the water and go down they will transmit pings and those pings will last for about a month. The rough location from the debris will give the recovery teams an idea of where to look -- but no black boxes yet.
He added: "It’s going to be very important when they are located and recovered. It could take some time because it’s a deep part of the Mediterranean.”
Intelligence officers at Paris airport to increase in June
30 additional intelligence officers will be on the ground at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris from June, Christophe Blondel-Deblangy, the secretary-general for the Airport Security Prefect Philippe Riffaut's office told CNN. He did not clarify the reason for the increase in personnel.
Armed French soldiers have patrolled the airport’s terminals continually since the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in Paris in January 2015.
There are 5700 security agents involved in assuring the safety of Charles De Gaulle airport, and all of them have been screened, however these controls are still ongoing, he said.
86,000 people, who work at Charles De Gaulle airport, have “red badges” which allows access to secure areas, known as the “reserved zone.” Though all badge holders have been under review since December 2015 following the November attacks in Paris, he said.
According to Charles de Gaulle airport, it handles about 65 million passengers a year. It is France's largest airport, the second-largest in Europe and the eighth-largest worldwide in number of passengers.
EgyptAir executives meet with family members
EgyptAir said in a statement that several of its executives met with relatives of the victims of EgyptAir 804 on Friday including CEO Safwat Musallam, Vice Chairman Ahmed Adel, Chairman Hisham al-Nahas, and several more members of the company’s management.
They met with families of the passengers -- Egyptians and foreigners -- in one of the hotels near the airport where they have been housed since yesterday in order to offer them all available information, to listen to them, to respond to their queries and offer all possible assistance and support.
Reporting from the Greek coast a few minutes ago on Facebook, CNN's Nic Robertson said: “This is no longer a rescue effort, it’s a recovery effort. That would be partly about the understanding of how the plane went down and partly because 30 hours in the water is too long to expect someone to survive."
He added: "The Mediterranean doesn’t look so big on a map but to coordinate a search with multiple aircraft in the skies in a relatively large area does take time, even in the Mediterranean."
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