Body parts, seats and luggage are found by MS804 EgyptAir jet search crews

Body parts, seats and luggage have been found floating in the Mediterranean in the hunt for doomed EgyptAir flight MS804, it emerged today.  The announcement by the Greek defence minister will be a devastating blow to relatives who are holding out a glimmer of hope their loved ones may have survived.

It came after the Egyptian military said it discovered wreckage around 180 miles north of the coastal city of Alexandria and was sweeping the area for the plane's black box recorders, which could solve the mystery of the crash.

Egyptian President Adbel Fattah al-Sisi, meanwhile, offered condolences to families of those on board, amounting to Cairo's official confirmation of their deaths.

Although fingers pointed towards Islamist militants who blew up another airliner over Egypt just seven months ago, no group had claimed responsibility more than 24 hours after the disappearance of flight MS804, an Airbus A320 that was flying from Paris to Cairo. 

Three French investigators and a technical expert from Airbus arrived in Cairo early on Friday to help investigate the fate of the missing plane, airport sources said.

Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said yesterday that it was too early to rule out any explanation for the disaster, but the country's aviation minister said a terrorist attack was more likely than a technical failure.

Friday's announcement that debris had been found followed earlier confusion about whether wreckage had been located. Greek searchers found some material on Thursday, but the airline later said this was not from its plane.

While there was no official explanation of the cause of the crash, suspicion immediately fell on Islamist militants who have been fighting against Egypt's government since Sisi toppled an elected Islamist leader in 2013. -dailymail