News

This Debris Could Be From EgyptAir Flight 804

by Jenny Hollander

Late Wednesday evening Eastern Time, a plane traveling from Cairo to Paris and operated by EgyptAir abruptly went missing. A couple of hours later, EgyptAir officially tweeted out confirmation that radar had lost the flight, sparking fears that the missing flight may have crashed shortly after entering Egyptian airspace. By Thursday morning, search-and-rescue efforts were well underway, and debris thought to be from EgyptAir Flight MS804 was discovered in the sea. The captain of one of the ships in the search and rescue efforts updated reportedly uploaded photos of the debris to Facebook.

It's unconfirmed whether these pieces of debris are from MS804 at all — after all, when Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing, debris that was thought to be from the plane was found several times; authorities later dismissed these pieces of debris as being from MH370. (Months later, part of what is thought to be from the plane's wing was found.)

The photos show some floating, orange-colored objects, and footage posted online — which has not confirmed to be from the search area — purports to show a white object floating in the ocean. That, too, may be debris.

The plane disappeared not long after entering Egypt.

The captain behind those photos has been identified as Tarek Wahba, according to his Facebook page.

Egyptian authorities have suggested that terrorism may be behind the plane's disappearance. The Airbus A320 is one of the world's safest jets, but investigators said in a statement that they are considering all options.

The pieces of debris are reportedly being examined to determine whether they could be from the missing flight.