EgyptAir Crash: Body Parts And Baggage Found

Human remains, seats and suitcases have been found in the Mediterranean Sea in the area where EgyptAir flight MS804 disappeared from radar.

Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry said in a statement: "The Egyptian navy was able to retrieve more debris from the plane, some of the passengers' belongings, human remains, and plane seats."

The debris was found 290km (180 miles) from the Egyptian city of Alexandria as the search for the plane's black boxes continues.

The wreckage has been recovered and will be analysed by British, French and Egyptian investigators, as well as an expert from Airbus.

Meanwhile, an Egyptian paper has quoted the country's civil aviation minister Sherif Fathi as telling victims' relatives there are "no survivors".

The flight left Paris at 10.09pm (all times BST) on Wednesday but vanished at 1.30am.

EgyptAir said on Twitter that radar contact with the plane was lost about 295km from the Egyptian coastline.

The European Space Agency said one of its satellites spotted a possible oil slick in the same area but there was no certainty it came from the plane.

France's foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told media on Friday there was "absolutely no indication" what brought down the flight despite Egypt saying terrorism was the most likely cause.

European security officials have said the passenger list for flight MS804 did not contain anyone on a current terror watch list.

Briton Richard Osman, 40, was among 56 passengers and 10 crew travelling on the Airbus A320.

The captain has been identified as Mohamed Said Shoukair, the co-pilot as Mohamed Mamdouh Assem, and three of the air stewards as Yara Hany Tawfik, Samar Ezz Eldin and Mervat Zakaria.

As well as Egyptian military, boats and planes from Greece, France, Cyprus and Italy are also taking part in the search.

The UK has sent RFA Lyme Bay, which had been near Crete, and a C130 Hercules from RAF Akrotiri.

The deputy chairman of EgyptAir has reportedly said that maintenance checks were carried out on the Airbus before it flew and "no problems have been reported".

The aircraft was in Egyptian airspace and flying at 37,000ft when it made sudden swerves and plunged to 15,000ft.

Military search and rescue teams picked up an automated signal from the plane's emergency beacon at 3.26am - about 80 minutes after it was supposed to land in Cairo.

It is thought this may have been triggered on impact.

Egyptian authorities have said no distress signal was sent.

The search will focus on the hunt for the plane's black boxes, which emit a small signal for several weeks after a plane crashes.