Thursday, May 19, 2016

DEVELOPING: EgyptAir flight 804 crashed: likely due to terrorism

EgyptAir flight 804 bound for Cairo went down in the Mediterranean Sea early Thursday morning with 66 souls aboard. It left from Paris' Charles de Gaulle International airport and several hours later sharply zig-zagged before plunging into the sea, aviation officials said. The aircraft was an AirBus 320.

Terrorism seems to be the most likely cause of the downing, but nothing can be ruled out at this time.

Government officials from Egypt, France and Greece had separate press conferences and White House Press Secretary, Josh Earnest, held a presser just after 12:30 p.m.

Ships and smaller craft are searching the waters off the Greek Island of Karpathos, where a witness reported seeing a fireball in the sky, but the depth of the water is as much as 5,000 feet and the search is likely going to be difficult.

At this posting, there is a British missile cruiser HMS Defender and a Russian ship closing in on the area where there is a suspected debris field. An Egyptian plane spotted two orange items believed to be from the missing plane.

The head of Russia's top domestic security agency, Alexander Bortnikov, said that "in all likelihood it was a terrorist attack" and called for a joint effort to track down those responsible for that "monstrous attack."

More to follow as more is learned.


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