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EgyptAir update: Searchers see body part, seats, luggage

Posted at 2:59 AM, May 20, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-20 07:28:02-04

CAIRO (AP) — The Latest on the disappearance of EgyptAir Flight 804 (all times local):

1:15 p.m.

Greece’s defense minister says Greek authorities have received notification that Egyptian authorities had spotted a body part, two seats and suitcases during their search in the Mediterranean Sea for the crashed EgyptAir Flight 804.

Minister Panos Kammenos says Friday that the items were found in the search area slightly to the south of where the aircraft had vanished from radar signals early Thursday.

He said the location was slightly north of where some debris had been found on Thursday afternoon but authorities had been unable to identify that as having come from the missing aircraft.

The Airbus A320 was carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared.

11:35 p.m.

The Egyptian presidency has expressed its “deep sadness and extreme regret” over the deaths of the 66 passengers and crew members aboard EgyptAir Flight 804.

The Friday statement is the first official recognition of the tragic crash of the missing plane. It came minutes after the Egyptian army announced for the first time that it located plane debris and passengers’ personal belongings some 190 miles (306 kilometers) north of the city of Alexandria in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Airbus A320 plane was flying from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared early Thursday over the sea.

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11:15 a.m.

Egyptian airport officials say that investigators will inspect the plane debris and personal belongings that the Egyptian army says it found 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of the city of Alexandria.

The officials said Friday that the chief Egyptian investigator Ayman el-Mokadam will be joined by French and British investigators as well as an expert from Airbus.

The Airbus 320 plane operated by EgyptAir was carrying 66 people from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared off radar at around 2.45 a.m. local time in Egypt.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

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11:00 a.m.

The Egyptian army says it has found wreckage of the missing EgyptAir flight 804, which crashed after disappearing from the radar while carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo.

The Egyptian army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Samir, says in a statement posted on his Facebook page Friday that Egyptian jets and naval vessels participating in the search for the missing plane have found “personal belongings of the passengers and parts of the plane debris,” 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of the city of Alexandria.

The Airbus 320 lost contact at 2.45 a.m. local time Thursday morning.