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First funeral of EgyptAir crash victim held in Cairo

The funeral has taken place of an air stewardess who died when EgyptAir flight MS804 crashed into...
Newstalk
Newstalk

07.16 22 May 2016


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First funeral of EgyptAir cras...

First funeral of EgyptAir crash victim held in Cairo

Newstalk
Newstalk

07.16 22 May 2016


Share this article


The funeral has taken place of an air stewardess who died when EgyptAir flight MS804 crashed into the Mediterranean.

Hundreds of family and friends of Yara Hani Tawfik gathered at St Mary and St Athanasius Church in Cairo this morning.

The mourners included her mother, grandmother and cousins.

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One cousin, Nader Medhat, said: "I got the news like everyone, I saw her picture on television, I got shocked but I thought that she did something good, maybe she got promoted".

"Then I discovered about the accident. I couldn't believe what had happened and I still can't".

Another cousin, Merlin Medhat, said: "I couldn't imagine that one day I would feel the grief of losing a cousin in such an accident".

Flight MS804 came down at 2.45am local time on Thursday while carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo.

The sea and air search for wreckage is continuing, with the Egyptian investigation committee saying it is still "too early" to make judgements over the reason behind the crash.

Investigators say only the two black boxes will reveal the cause of the crash.

First available audio

The first available audio indicates there were no problems when the crew checked in with air traffic controllers in Zurich, Switzerland, late on Wednesday night.

The recording was taken from www.liveatc.net, a website that provides live air traffic control broadcasts from around the world.

The communication occurred around midnight local time, about two-and-a-half hours before Greek air traffic controllers in Athens lost contact with the plane.

In it, we hear the plane check in with air traffic controllers in Switzerland late on Wednesday - before being handed over to those in Italy.

Pictures have been posted online showing items from the jet, including a child's life jacket and what appears to be part of a seat.

The images were published by an Egyptian army spokesman after it emerged the plane sent several warning signals about smoke near the cockpit before it crashed.

One aviation source said a fire would likely have generated multiple warning signals, while an explosion may not have generated any.

Egypt says its navy has found human remains, wreckage and belongings floating in the sea about 180 miles (290km) north of Alexandria.

A video of the search operation showed a shoe and a handbag among the items floating in the water.

Search teams are looking for further wreckage, in particular the plane's cockpit voice and flight data recorders.

Planes and vessels from Egypt and five other countries - Greece, Britain, France, the United States and Cyprus - are helping with the search.


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