Attack more likely behind Egypt plane crisis than technical fault; says Egypt minister

Egypt’s aviation minister said that a terrorist attack was more likely to have taken down the missing EgyptAir aircraft early Thursday morning than a technical failure.

“Let’s not try to jump to the side that is trying to identify this as a technical failure – on the contrary. The situation may point – and I say ‘may’ because I don’t want to speculate and I don’t want to go to assumptions like others – but if you analyse the situation properly, the possibility of having a different action, or having a terror attack, is higher than the possibility of having a technical [fault].” Sherif Fathy, Egypt’s civil aviation minister, said.

There were no known security concerns about passengers aboard the missing plane but further checks are underway, he told a news conference.

The minister said however that it was still too early to draw any conclusions as to the cause of the plane’s disappearance.

Source: Reuters & Agencies