Signals possibly from EgyptAir Flight MS804 black boxes detected

CAIRO, June 1 (UPI) -- Signals presumed to come from flight recorders aboard a crashed EgyptAir plane were detected by a French navy ship, Egyptian investigators said Wednesday.

"The French vessel 'Laplace'... has received through its search equipment signals from the seabed of the wreckage search area assumed to be from one of the data recorders," a statement Wednesday by the Egyptian Aircraft Investigation Committee said.

Although investigators did not identify the location in the Mediterranean Sea of the signal, they added a second ship, with deep sea divers aboard to retrieve the flight recorders, will arrive at the site later this week.

French authorities offered no comment.

Officials said they previously believed they detected signals from the crashed plane but determined those signals were from before the aircraft disappeared.

EgyptAir Flight MS804 is presumed to have crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on May 18 with 66 people on board. The Airbus A320, en route from Paris to Cairo, disappeared from radar screens as it traveled from Greek to Egyptian air space. Authorities are considering the possibility the aircraft was brought down by way of terrorism, but the official cause of the incident has not been determined.

Debris believed to have come from the plane has been found in the Mediterranean sea.