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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Egypt: EgyptAir Flight 804 Wreckage Found. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired May 20, 2016 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But often times, there's a difference between what the technical level says and what the politicians and the others, the government officials, say who have other concerns -- concerns about the state of tourism in Egypt, which has really taken a nose dive in recent years and certainly after the metro jetliner incident, it is down dramatically -- Boris.
[05:00:16] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Certainly, an important distinction between with the technical and political implications of what they find.
Ben Wedeman reporting from Rome, thank you.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And again, our breaking news right now. The Egyptian military, a spokesperson saying some debris from EgyptAir has been found, including passenger belongings.
EARLY START continues right
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ROMANS: All right. Our breaking news right now. Egyptian officials claiming they have found some debris of the missing airline Flight 804. That plane vanishing more than 24 hours ago.
Our team coverage begins right now.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Boris Sanchez. It's Friday, May 20th, 5:00 a.m. on the East Coast.
We welcome to our viewers here in the U.S. and all around the world.
As you heard, we're following breaking news this hour. Egyptian officials saying the debris from EgyptAir Fight 804 has been located. We are awaiting more details of what they found. So far, what we heard is that passenger belongings have been located.
This goes back to yesterday when initially they thought they found debris. It turns out it wasn't from this flight. Now it appears they have been able to confirm them. We will dig for more details and bring them to you as soon as we get them.
Here's what we know so far. The Egyptian jet vanished with 66 people on board. On the way from Paris to Cairo. We are covering the story only the way CNN can.
Let's start in Egypt with CNN's Becky Anderson live at Cairo International Airport.
Becky, what are you hearing about this breaking news?
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, this is potentially a very significant development, were it to be true. This will be the first, I guess, information that those who have been gathered here, the relatives and family of the 66 people on board, majority of whom were Egyptian and French nationals.
It will come as shocking news to them. Given that this has until this point, been still a search and rescue operation being run by the Egyptians in conjunction with the Greeks and help from the British and from the French and French investigators arriving here to the airport just in the past couple hours, by the Cypriots and by the Italians, an enormous operation.
The president of Egypt insisted and demanded that this search be intensified. He pulled in assets from aviation and from the military here and from the navy. So, were this to be a fact and we are still waiting, we have only heard this from the spokesman for the military here in Egypt. So, we're waiting to get more detail on this.
Were this to be true, this would clearly, one assumes this is moving from a search and rescue to a search and recovery operation. This is difficult for the family and friends holding out the slight hope of the disappearance of the plane. It may not be the result of either terror or technical error. It does seem clear the flight came down.
Much confusion and still many, many questions. More questions than answers at this stage, I'm afraid, guys.
But as you rightly point out, if this is information we can stand up, a very significant development, and relatively quick if you think about it. This is only 32 hours after we originally heard the flight had disappeared from radar. Just as it entered Greek air space on its way from Charles de Gaulle in Paris to Cairo Thursday morning.
ROMANS: Let me tell you, Becky. We know the navy there, Egyptian military spokesman saying the navy found some of the passengers' belongings. They are sweeping the area and looking for the plane's black box. They are saying they found part of the debris from the flight.
And so, now, the investigation, you assume, once they begin bringing pieces of the plane out of the water, they can try to figure out exactly what happened to that flight. It still must be agonizing for the families.
We know yesterday they heard word they found debris. Turned out not to be true.
ANDERSON: Yes. ROMANS: But now, the military, Becky, is saying they do believe this is part of EgyptAir Flight 804. They found this, Becky, 290 kilometers north of the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria.
[05:05:00] ANDERSON: Fascinating. OK.
The area it was being searched was 230 kilometers south/southeast of the island of Crete. So, this does begin to sort of make sense.
And you rightly point out indeed if this is the case, this now moves very rapidly from a search and rescue operation to a recovery operation.
What we do know, this is significant to what happened to this plane. We do know here in Egypt that the case, the file as it were, has been referred by the chief prosecutor to the state security prosecutor. Suggesting -- we have known this for some time -- but suggesting and they may be right to have suggested this now this was likely a terrorism act rather than perhaps a technical fault. The suggestion being that as you moved that file from chief prosecutor to state security prosecutor, this becomes a criminal investigation.
You were speaking to Ben Wedeman, who is the correspondent here based in Cairo about the way that the Egyptians have dealt with the messaging on that. To a certain extent, I have to say, they are eager to get t media and families and friends, the investigators information out after in the past being accused of lack of transparency. Think back to the Russian MetroJet downing back in November.
It took four to six months for the Egyptians to come out with detail with any investigation which in the end suggested that had been terror-related. We had a drip feed of information. Some of which they called back on if the last 32 hours. There seems to be an effort to provide transparency on detail as we go ahead.
One hopes that they don't get ahead of themselves which is what happened on Thursday. Much to the disappointment, of course, of the family members of the people on board. You know, the aviation minister having to rule back on the announcement that debris found yesterday. He said some hours ago, I stand corrected on that.
So, very, very difficult for the people whose family members are involved. But, yes, I think it's very important that we point out that we can't at the moment stand this up, this is information we are getting from a credible source, from the military, from the spokesman for the Egyptian military. And they are now reporting that debris and personal belongings have been found. We will try to do what we can to stand that information up for you.
ROMANS: Thank you. We will let you get to your sources.
Investigators are combing the eastern Mediterranean. They are south/southeast of the Greek island of Karpathos. Minutes ago, the Egyptian military says it found debris from the EgyptAir Flight 804. They're saying this is 180 miles north of the Alexandria area. They are searching, sweeping trying to retrieve the black box and they have said, the Egyptian military spokesman said they found passenger belongings in the sea.
Joining us with the very latest, journalist Elinda Labropoulou standing by live for us in Parga, Greece.
There's a real intense effort, multinational intense airport underway to find this plane.
ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST: Well, obviously, if this news is true, there will be an immediate response once this information is confirmed. Boats, helicopters, military aircraft from all sides and all countries operating in the area are going to concentrate on this one location.
And the location just initially sounds about right to put it plainly. It is very much in the greater area that is now being scanned from all these forces and even marine ships are taking part in this scanning. Now, yesterday we had this initial information from Egypt that some of the debris may have been found. The Greeks a very reluctant to confirm any of this, and finally, it turned out that this information was not accurate.
So, again, Greek authorities are cautious about what they can say about this breaking news about this information about debris coming in.
And overall, the Greek authorities have been cautious in the way they have been addressing this entire investigation about speculating on the causes of what might be behind this. They have been giving us the facts here. They have been telling us that they have been the last people to talk to the pilot of the plane. That the pilot had confirmed to Greek air traffic controllers that everything was fine while it was still in Greek air space. But they then lost touch leaving Greek air space and entering Egyptian air space.
And then, the Greek defense minister said the Greek radars had seen the plane swerve midair and then plunged, until the radar has lost signal.
[05:10:07] So, the Greeks have been very much concentrating on just the facts in this operation, this ongoing operation, saying they are very willing to cooperate with the multinational force. And they are asking for satellite information which many countries could provide to be able to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible, because as you know, in these operations and if there is indeed a chance of looking for survivors. Still any minute, any minute is really, really important.
SANCHEZ: Extremely important. Especially for the families hoping that their loved ones may have survived this catastrophe.
Elinda Labropoulou, thank you.
Now, that passenger debris and wreckage has been found north of the Egyptian coast, according to Egyptian military officials, how does this change the investigation?
Let's bring in CNN international correspondent Max Foster. He is live at Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris.
Max, what are you hearing from French officials?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the situation at the moment, we know the investigation is taking place. They have been called verification investigation, nothing official coming out from them. That is because no French victims have been recovered yet. No one is dead yet from France. That would ramp up the investigation here.
Obviously, a huge amount of interest in what happened here at Charles de Gaulle. This is where the airplane stood on the tarmac and left heading towards Cairo and some suspicion it was sabotaged in some way. This is an airport with a high level of security checks after the string of attacks in Europe, extraordinary that the device could have gotten on the plane here. But there's always a possibility, of course, particularly if humans are involved, so they are no doubt checking who had access to the aircraft, the ground crew, the air crew, passengers for example.
They are ramping up security even today. Just earlier, they had baggage checks at the entrance to the terminal, which is a high level of security when you ramped up security at the site with patrols and with video surveillance. So, certainly if they find a French victim, they ramp up the security levels here and the investigation levels. We will hear more in terms of official announcements. Lots of people talking about the potential for device being slipped on board the aircraft here.
The reason they're saying it happened here is opposed to the locations where the aircraft was before it came here, Tunisia for example, there was a full security sweep on the aircraft here before it left. And there were passengers on the plane when it arrived, but none of those got back on the aircraft when it left.
So, a lot of eyes pointing toward the potential weak link here. Although, aviation experts in the country think it is extraordinary that anything got on the plane here.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks so much for that, Max Foster.
We are following this breaking news this morning. Egyptian officials say wreckage of missing EgyptAir Flight 840 has now been found, including parts of debris, passenger belongings. We are live with new information next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:17:22] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ROMANS: Our breaking news coverage of the disappearance of EgyptAir Flight 804.
Here is where things stand right now: developing just a few moments ago, Egyptian military says it has found passenger belongings. They have found wreckage floating in the sea 180 miles north of the coastal city of Alexandria.
To help break down these developments, we want to bring in CNN aviation analyst, Les Abend.
You know, the military saying they found passenger belongings. They have found pieces of this plane.
This, for you, is the starting point. Now, we have actual evidence.
LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Now this is what we call the field part of the investigation. Hopefully, there's pieces of the airplane we're going to find. You know, there's probably debris within the fuselage, life jackets and things that float.
The other aspect to it is human remains, the bodies that may be recovered. Certainly important for the families, but it's also important for the investigation, from the standpoint of any forensic autopsies that are done on these victims. It might give evidence of an explosion, if that's the direction that things might go. Even on the surface of skin or within their lungs.
So, it's an important part. In addition to the fact that hopefully the flow pattern and currents, which I'm not an expert at, has been tracked so they can bring that back and recycle it to where the impact zone might be so that process of looking for those black boxes, the cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data recorder can begin. That is the important part of the investigation.
SANCHEZ: And you mentioned this earlier, it's important it keep in mind the material the plane is made out of. It's essentially plastic and it has a tendency to sink, right?
ABEND: Well, I use plastic for generic term. But it's composite material, different material put together.
A lot of it actually will float. It is the fact what's attached to it. I brought up in the previous discussion about the engines are attached to the wings, so that's a heavy material that's going to drag the wings down. And plus the fuel. In addition to the fact the fuselage is mostly metal. So, that's probably going to sink, especially if it broke up in flight, there's not really a lot of floating aspects to that. So --
ROMANS: All right. So, stick with us. We're going to continue to talk about these developments.
[05:20:00] They are unfolding. We are learning right now that Egyptian officials say they found the wreckage from the missing EgyptAir Flight 804. We're going to have new details. The conversation continues right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right. Breaking news: coverage of the disappearance of EgyptAir Flight 804. Here is where things stand right now, brand new developments.
Egyptian military says it has found passenger belongings and wreckage floating in the sea 180 miles north of the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria, right there in that search area we have been telling you about.
I want to break down these developments with CNN aviation analyst Les Abend.
[05:25:01] Les, I want to read the statement that has come from the Egyptian military about what exactly they have found here.
"As part of efforts of the search rescue teams, searching for the missing plane since yesterday, Egyptian aircraft and naval vessels were able to locate on Friday morning, some personal belongings of passengers as well parts of the wreckage 290 kilometers north of the Alexandria area. The searching, sweeping and retrieval process is underway."
What they will be retrieving will be parts of that airplane. It will be the passenger belongings and they are sweeping for those black boxes.
ABEND: This is evidence in the investigation. This can lead us to the potential for the theory of an explosive device or not. And the fact where the debris field is located, we need to trace it back. Our water experts will be able to do a better job of it. They will be able to trace it back to where it impacted the ocean.
And then, from there, we can look for the airplane. Then as we know, the technically the black boxes have pingers that are supposed to last 30 days with those particular batteries.
So, this is the initial part of the investigation. And, unfortunately, it's the gruesome part of the investigation.
ROMANS: It is really sad. For the families who are watching this. You know, the Egyptian president issued condolences to the families. To hear from them there are passenger belongings in the ocean.
SANCHEZ: Confirmation of the worst fears.
I want to get back to the scenarios. The U.S. officials have essentially said that because of the circumstance of this plane going down, they believe this is a terror investigation. You are more hesitant to go in that direction.
ABEND: Well, I'm always hesitant to go in a direction that everybody established in their heads without scientific evidence.
SANCHEZ: Right.
ROMANS: Of course.
ABEND: I want to keep everybody with open minds, you know, of what possibilities. We discussed the possibility of hypoxia where the plane became uncontrollable because the crew for an insidious leak of the pressurization system might have reacted badly to a situation. When you are hypoxic, you are euphoric. You can't do math problems. Strange things happen.
So, it is a little out there, that theory. Some loss of control that could have possibly been mechanical, technical, that the crew tried to respond to it, but could not. Or the airplane, you know, did something that was just beyond anybody's understanding.
SANCHEZ: That's why this discovery is so significant. They have the hard evidence they need to figure out what happened.
Les, thank you so much for the expertise.
Egyptian officials say that wreckage from the missing EgyptAir Flight 804 has been found. We have live team coverage from around the globe, next.
