(KRON) – Debris found in the Mediterranean Sea “does not come from a plane,” Athanasios Binis, the head of the Greek air safety authority, told Agence France-Presse.
An EgyptAir official had earlier said that the wreckage was that of the missing plane, Flight 804. The airline previously announced that life jackets and plastic materials found floating near the Greek island of Karparthos belonged to the missing plane. The airline later retracted the information.
“We have found the wreckage,” EgyptAir Vice President Ahmed Adel said in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“There are so many reasons why a plane can fall from the sky and crash. We have no explanations at this stage. We need more investigation.”
An EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board crashed into the Mediterranean Sea off the Greek island of Crete early Thursday morning, Egyptian and Greek officials said. Egypt’s aviation minister said the crash was more likely caused by a terror attack than technical problems.
There have been no immediate signs of survivors.
The U.S. government is operating on their initial theory that a bomb took down the EgyptAir flight, officials told CNN.
Aboard were 56 passengers and 10 cabin crew members and security officers. The passengers were predominantly Egyptian – 30 in all – but also aboard were 15 French citizens, including an infant; two Iraqis; and one from each of the following countries: Britain, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Chad, Portugal, Algeria and Canada, according to Fathi, the Egyptian aviation minister.
So far, there have been no claims by any terrorist groups.The Associated Press and CNN contributed to this report