Human Remains, Plane Seat, Luggage Found Near Where EgyptAir Flight Disappeared, Greek Officials Say

The military is scouring a wide area south of the Greek island of Crete.

ByABC News
May 20, 2016, 11:51 AM

— -- Human remains, an airplane seat and luggage were found about 5 miles south of where an EgyptAir flight lost contact with radar and went missing over the Mediterranean Sea, a Greek official said today.

Wreckage and passenger belongings were spotted about 180 miles north off the coast of the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, Egyptian officials said, and an airline official said later today that Egyptian military and marine forces discovered more debris, passengers’ belongings, body parts, luggage and aircraft seats, but the search is still in progress.

A "potential oil slick" from the plane was also spotted by a satellite in the area where the aircraft went missing, the European Space Agency said today.

The missing plane was en route to Cairo from Paris when it disappeared early Thursday with 66 aboard. The plane lost contact with the radar tracking system at 2:45 a.m. at an altitude of 37,000 feet, according to EgyptAir.

PHOTO: An EgyptAir flight en route to Cairo from Paris disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean Sea about 174 miles from the Egyptian coast.
An EgyptAir flight en route to Cairo from Paris disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean Sea about 174 miles from the Egyptian coast.

Search teams today are scouring a wide area south of the Greek island of Crete for signs of the Airbus A320, Greece's Ministry of National Defense said this morning, while Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi later said that investigations are continuing "to establish the truth and the causes of the crash."

PHOTO: An engineer stands in front of a C-130 HAUP of the Hellenic Air Force, which took part in the searching operation of the missing Egypt plane, at the military air base of Kastelli on the southern Greek island of Crete, May 20, 2016.
An engineer stands in front of a C-130 HAUP of the Hellenic Air Force, which took part and is on stand by, in the searching operation of the missing Egypt plane, at the military air base of Kastelli on the southern Greek island of Crete, Friday, May 20, 2016. The search is continuing for missing EgyptAir flight 804, which disappeared from the radar while carrying passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo. Authorities are scouring a wide area south of the Greek island of Crete to search for wreckage, over 24 hours after the Airbus 320 lost contact.

Egyptian officials said earlier the incident was more likely caused by terrorism than a technical problem.

"I don’t want to go to assumptions like others, but if you analyze the situation properly, the possibility...of having a terror attack is higher than having a technical [failure,]" Egyptian aviation minister Sherif Fathi told reporters Thursday.

U.S. officials said its government satellites have shown no indications of an explosion along the flight path.

PHOTO: A video image released by the Egyptian Defense Ministry, an Egyptian plane flies over a ship during the search in the Mediterranean Sea for the missing EgyptAir flight 804 plane, May 19, 2016.
A video image released by the Egyptian Defense Ministry, an Egyptian plane flies over a ship during the search in the Mediterranean Sea for the missing EgyptAir flight 804 plane which crashed after disappearing from the radar May 19, 2016 while carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo.

Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said the plane swerved wildly before plummeting into the sea, according to The Associated Press.

But the Egyptian military says no distress call was received from the pilot.

Grieving relatives gathered at Cairo International Airport Thursday, awaiting any word on whether the plane would be found.

PHOTO: Relatives of passengers on a vanished EgyptAir flight grieve as they leave the in-flight service building where they were held at Cairo International Airport, Egypt, May 19, 2016.
Relatives of passengers on a vanished EgyptAir flight grieve as they leave the in-flight service building where they were held at Cairo International Airport, Egypt, May 19, 2016.

French President François Hollande said during a news conference in Paris, "When we have the truth, we need to draw all the conclusions."

"At this stage, we must give priority to solidarity with the families [of the victims,]" Hollande said.

PHOTO: French President Francois Hollande attends a national conference on Handicap at the Elysee Palace in Paris, May 19, 2016.
French President Francois Hollande attends a national conference on Handicap at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Thursday, May 19, 2016. Hollande has confirmed the crash of the EgyptAir flight, and says no hypothesis is ruled out or preferred, including an accident or a terrorist act.

Among the 66 people on board, there was one child, two infants, three EgyptAir security personnel and seven crew members, said the airline.

An Egypt Air spokesman said the flight officers were pilot Mohammed Shukair and co-pilot Mohamed Assem.

U.S. officials confirmed there were no Americans on the flight. Both Secretary of State John Kerry and the White House expressed their condolences to the victims of the tragedy.