Cairo: Egyptian investigators have said that they have spotted and obtained images from the wreckage of the plane flying from Paris to Cairo that crashed into the Mediterranean last month, killing all 66 people on board, according to a statement by the country's investigation committee.
The investigation committee said that the John Lethbridge – one of two ships contracted by the Egyptians to hunt for the wreckage – had found “several main locations” on the sea floor between Crete and the Egyptian coast.
The committee said it had obtained images of the wreckage. These will allow search teams and investigators on board the vessel to draw an exact map of the location.
The committee said in a statement that a vessel, the John Lethbridge, contracted by the Egyptian government to join search efforts for the data recorders and the wreckage "had identified several main locations of the wreckage.'' It added that it obtained images of the wreckage.
The next step, the committee said, will be drawing a map showing the wreckage location.
The vessel is equipped with sonar and other equipment capable of detecting wreckage at depths up to 6,000 feet (1,830 meters).
The EgyptAir Airbus A320 had been cruising normally in clear skies on an overnight flight on May 19. The radar showed that the doomed aircraft turned 90 degrees left, then a full 360 degrees to the right, plummeting from 38,000 feet (11,582 meters) to 15,000 feet (4,572 meters) before disappearing at about 10,000 feet (3,048 meters).
The cause of the crash still has not been determined. Ships and planes from Egypt, Greece, France, the United States and other nations are searching the Mediterranean Sea north of the Egyptian port of Alexandria for the jet's voice and flight data recorders, as well as more bodies and parts of the aircraft.
AP inputs
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