Search Narrows for EgyptAir Flight 804 as ‘Signals’ Emit From the Sea

Thursday afternoon Airbus announced detecting signals in the Mediterranean Sea where EgyptAir Flight 804 perished last week, reports Egypt’s state-run Al Ahram news agency.

The distress signals emitted by the plane’s emergency locator transmitter, a device designed to automatically activate upon impact. The signals radically decrease the search area to a 3 mile (5km) radius.

Last Friday, EgyptAir 804 was flying at an altitude of 37,000 feet when it lost contact above the Mediterranean Sea only moments before the aircraft was scheduled to enter into Egyptian airspace. 

The search mission for debris from the doomed flight has had some early success with life vests, personal belongings, and pieces of wreckage recovered during the first days. However, the search continues for the plane’s fuselage, flight data and cockpit recorders as officials scramble to determine the cause of the crash although experts believe the flight was bombed by terrorists.

Airbus refrained from making an official comment on the distress signals received from the emergency locator transmitter saying only that "we are supporting the parties in charge of the investigation and we can’t comment, nor do we contribute to any kind of speculation."