A week after the tragic crash of EgyptAir Flight 804, the black box is still missing. Search teams have their hopes high as signals from beneath the Mediterranean Sea were detected.
EgyptAir Flight MS 804 flying to Cairo from Paris went off the radar on May 19. Authorities believe that the plane crashed into the Mediterranean Sea where search and rescue operations were directed. Since then, a number of debris and body parts were recovered. Most of the remains are in a morgue in Cairo undergoing DNA tests.
The remains found are said to have broken down into pieces and DNA testing had to be done to identify the victims. The forensic experts believe that the condition of the remains is due to an explosion. But opposing evidence bewilders experts because there were no signs of explosives, so far, from the debris collected at sea.
To solve the mystery, the black box needsto be found. It can give clues as to what transpired minutes before the plane crashed.
According to reports, Airbus detected signals from the Mediterranean Sea near the potential crash site. The plane is equipped with an emergency locator transmitter which can automatically activate whenever a crash or any type of impact occurred. This is the signal being detected by Airbus, according to reports of local newspapers. But the signal is still not coming from the black box, which emits a different kind of "ping".
According to a report by CNN, the signals helped narrow down the search area which is now focused on a 5-kilometer (3.1 miles) radius as compared to a state-sized search area a few days ago. With this new development, the search time composed of foreign groups can focus their operations in a smaller area giving them a bigger and faster chance of locating the wreckage and the black box.
The French will send a vessel equipped with state-of-the-art equipment to help locate pings and signals from the black box. They also deployed an underwater exploration robot which can reach depths as low as 10,000 feet according to the same report by CNN.
With smaller search area and high-tech equipment to work with, the world is hoping that the question on what caused the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804 can finally be answered.