First Photos of EgyptAir 804 Wreckage Released

Estimated EgyptAir Flight 804 crash site . Screenshot of Google Maps/Markings by Epoch Times

The Egyptian Armed Forces spokesman released, via Facebook, images of the first pieces of wreckage salvaged from EgyptAir Flight 804 on Saturday. 

The aircraft had been cruising normally in clear skies on a nighttime flight from Paris to Cairo early Thursday when it suddenly lurched left, then right, spun all the way around and plummeted 38,000 feet (11,582.4 meters) into the sea, never issuing a distress signal.

All 66 passengers are presumed dead. 

This still image taken from video posted Saturday, May 21, 2016, on the official Facebook page of the Egyptian Armed Forces spokesman shows some personal belongings and other wreckage from EgyptAir flight 804. Egyptian Armed Forces via AP

Moments before the plane plummeted into the Mediterranean, smoke was detected on board in multiple places. But the cause of the crash remains unclear, a French air accident investigation agency said on Saturday.

This picture posted Saturday, May 21, 2016, on the official Facebook page of the Egyptian Armed Forces spokesman shows part of the wreckage from EgyptAir flight 804. Egyptian Armed Forces Facebook via AP

The former head of flight operations for the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority says that there might have been a struggle on the flight deck of the EgyptAir plane that crashed on Thursday morning.

“One’s inclined to go towards the theory that there had been some interference on the aircraft, and on the flight deck, with the control of the aircraft,” Captain Mike Vivian was quoted as saying via The Independent.

Vivian speculated that members of the plane’s staff could have been involved in the downing of the plane, saying it could have been an “inside job.”

This picture posted Saturday, May 21, 2016, on the official Facebook page of the Egyptian Armed Forces spokesman shows a life vest from EgyptAir flight 804. Egyptian Armed Forces via AP

David Learmount, former RAF pilot and Consulting Editor at Flight Global, said caution should be urged in lieu of any official explanation about Thursday’s crash.

“My money and a lot of people’s money is on this being sabotage, [though] it’s not certainly that,” he stipulated, according to Sky News. “I think the bomb is the more likely. With the fast turnarounds that aeroplanes do today, it’s quite difficult to check every part of them,” he added.

This still image taken from video posted Saturday, May 21, 2016, on the official Facebook page of the Egyptian Armed Forces spokesman shows an Egyptian ship collecting wreckage of EgyptAir flight 804. Egyptian Armed Forces via AP

The flight took of at 11:09 p.m. (local time) on May 18 from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France and radar contact was lost at 2:45 a.m. on May 19 above the Mediterranean Sea between Greek island of Crete and Egypt.

This August 21, 2015 photo shows an EgyptAir Airbus A320 with the registration SU-GCC taking off from Vienna International Airport, Austria. Egyptian aviation officials said on Thursday May 19, 2016 that an EgyptAir plane with the registration SU-GCC, traveling from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board has crashed off the Greek island of Karpathos. Meanwhile, Egypt's chief prosecutor Nabil Sadek says he has ordered an "urgent investigation" into crash. Sadek instructed the National Security Prosecutor to open an "extensive investigation" in the incident. AP Photo/Thomas Ranner

Estimated EgyptAir Flight 804 crash site . Screenshot of Google Maps/Markings by Epoch Times

The Associated Press contributed to this report.