EgyptAir Flight 804: Possible Underwater Signal Detected, Investigators Say

The real reason behind the unfortunate crash of EgyptAir Flight 804 may finally shed some light following reports that the French naval vessel has picked up underwater signals from one of the aircraft’s black boxes.

The signals are picked up by a special locator equipment aboard the French navy vessel “La Place” from the seabed of the Mediterranean Sea. The French vessel is equipped with three detectors made by the Alseamar company, designed to detect and localize signals from the flight recorders, which are believed to be at a depth of about 3,000 meters (9,842 feet) underwater.

There were 66 passengers and crew on board the EgyptAir Flight 804 who perished and the real reason behind the crash may be uncovered with the help of the so-called black boxes. For now however, the actual location of the source of the signals remain unknown as the searches are still in their early stages.

"We have to find where the boxes are exactly and decide on how to pull them out," said Shaker Kelada, an Egypt Air official. He adds that search teams may need to use robots or submarines but will need to be extremely careful to avoid any possible damage.

Kelada is no stranger to the unfortunate situation. In 2004, he was also part of the investigation of the Flash Airlines Flight 604 crash that hit the Red Sea shortly after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh that claimed the lives of 148 passengers and crew on board.

EgyptAir Airbus A320 crashed last May 19, a nighttime flight from Paris to Cairo. The aircraft reportedly lurched left and then right, eventually spinning all the way around and plummeting 38,000 feet into sea.

Prior to the signals, small pieces of wreckage and human remains have been recovered though it is believed that bulk of the plane and human bodies are still deep underwater. The scope of the search has been narrowed down to a 5-kilometer area over at the Mediterranean.

The cause of the disaster remains a mystery for now and no terrorist group has claimed responsibility for it.

“Why bring down a plane if you’re not going to take credit for it?” asked Clint Watts, formerly executive officer at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center.