The search for EgyptAir flight MS804 is continuing, after a senior airline official retracted an earlier statement that the wreckage of the Airbus A320 had been found.
“We stand corrected on finding the wreckage because what we identified is not part of our plane. So the search and rescue is still going on,” EgyptAir’s vice chairman Ahmed Adel told CNN.
He added that the airline is not involved in the search, and is getting its information from the Greek and Egyptian authorities.
The statement that the wreckage of the missing aircraft has been found is however still posted on the airline’s website, Facebook and Twitter pages.
Neither the airline nor the Egyptian civil aviation authority could be reached for further clarification.
In the statement, EgyptAir said it received “an official letter” from the Egyptian ministry of foreign affairs, that declared that MS804’s wreckage had been located near the Greek island of Karpathos.
The 2003-built A320, registered SU-GCC, lost radar contact while operating a flight from Paris to Cairo on 19 May, shortly after entering the Egyptian airspace.
It is still unclear whether officials received an emergency distress signal from the aircraft. Egypt’s civil aviation ministry had said an emergency signal was transmitted at 04:26, about 90min after the aircraft’s scheduled arrival in Cairo, but the civil aviation minister later denied this.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
