EGYPTAIR: TERROR SUSPECTED
Two Canadians among victims
PARIS • Aviation experts and Egyptian officials agree that terrorism is the most likely cause of the crash of an EgyptAir jet en route from Paris to Cairo, killing 56 passengers — including two Canadians — and 10 crew.
A terrorist attack will inevitably raise questions about Paris airport security. Precautions were increased after the November terrorist attacks in the French capital, and security was further heightened after the Brussels airport bombing in March.
Additional police were deployed at the two main airports in Paris, Charles de Gaulle, from where EgyptAir flight MS804 departed, and Orly.
A number of baggage handlers and other airport staff have been suspended or lost their jobs because they were suspected of links to radical Islam.
All employees of the airport and airline that could have had access to the plane or luggage prior to takeoff were reportedly being questioned and passenger lists were being examined.
French aviation experts said that if the plane was only on the ground for an hour or two before returning to Cairo, it might not
MAJOR TECHNICAL FAULT — EXPLOSION OF A MOTOR, FOR INSTANCE — SEEMS IMPROBABLE.
have been fully inspected by Paris security, raising the prospect that a bomb could have been planted before it reached the French capital.
The crash came just days after the head of France’s domestic intelligence agency, Patrick Calvar, warned that the country was the Islamic State’s top target and that the terror group was seeking “new ways” of striking the French.
Flight MS804 is believed to have dropped more than 22,000 feet before spinning 360 degrees in the air and then plunging into the Mediterranean Sea off the Greek island of Karpathos early Thursday morning. Greece deployed aircraft and a frigate to the area but said debris that had been found was not from the crash.
Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion said two Canadian citizens were among the passengers, but did not release their identities. A friend of one of the victims later identified her as Marwa Hamdy, who was born and raised in Saskatoon.
Experts say it is unlikely that the plane was shot down from the ground, as it was flying at 37,000 feet. Others say the chances of a mechanical malfunction being the cause were slim.
“If you analyze the situation properly the possibility of having a terror attack is higher than the possibility of having a technical (problem),” said Egypt’s aviation minister, Sherif Fathy.
“A major technical fault — the explosion of a motor, for instance — seems improbable,” said Gerard Feldzer, a French aeronautics expert, underlining that the Airbus A320 in question was “relatively new,” having entered service in 2003.
The A320 model has an excellent safety record as the bestselling medium-range airliner in the world.
That leaves a terrorist attack as the most likely possibility, not least because it appears that no distress signal was sent from the aircraft.
The pilot had spoken to Greek flight controllers some 25 minutes beforehand and had not reported a problem. Panos Kammenos, the Greek defence minister, said that the signal was lost at around 10,000 feet.
Francois Suchel, an airline pilot, said: “There are many events that can create this type of problem, even if it is very rare, whether a stall, depressurization, a technical event inside the structure of the plane that would see an ever greater fall rate, or obviously foul play.”
The plane’s descent rate will provide crucial information on the likely cause of the crash, he told French TV.
“Engine failure would show a relatively low fall rate. Depressurization would show a much higher fall rate of around five to six thou-
NO HYPOTHESIS CAN BE RULED OUT.
sand feet per minute. But obviously without this data it is difficult to provide credible scenarios,” he said.
By the time the passengers sealed their fate by taking their seats in Paris, the doomed A320 was already on its fifth journey in 24 hours.
The airliner had taken in stops as far afield as Eritrea, Egypt and Tunisia before finally taking off from France to Cairo Wednesday night.
The crew — most of whom were on the final legs of their shift — were in a relaxed mood, having noticed nothing untoward as they cleaned up and made final security checks at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport.
And for the next two hours, the pilot, who had more than 2,000 hours of experience in the same cockpit, was in equally good spirits, chatting with Greek traffic control after making radio contact shortly after midnight.
The flight made its last contact at around 1:40 a.m. and disappeared from radar at around 1:45 a.m., shortly before entering Egyptian airspace in near-perfect weather conditions.
Egypt is facing its third major aviation crisis in a year after terrorists bombed a Russian airliner and an Egyptian man hijacked an EgyptAir flight in March and forced it to land in Cyprus.
Thursday night, EgyptAir insisted that security scans on the aircraft took place prior to takeoff from Paris and all previous stops. It also emerged that an extra security guard was on board, in addition to the usual two.
French President Francois Hollande said the cause of the crash was unknown, adding: “No hypothesis can be ruled out, nor can any be favoured over another.”