. >> the air line said debris found didn't come from the missing jet. >> from there, the jet passed

all maintenance checks. >> covering this breaking story, from every angle. richard west. start with becky, it has been daylight on the egyptian coach for a couple of hours. >> that's right. in a reported statement, the egyptian all measures taken help by britain, u.s., the italians as well. this is a search and rescue

mission. it must provide comfort for the 66 people on that plane. many families were here at the egyptair facility. we are told, although, frustrated by the discrepancies at times, they were being given. the vice chairman, had to roll back on an earlier statement. they thought found debry, to say later for family members, as we wake up here now, 7:00 not morning, one assumes that they will there were medics here. providing comfort and support for them yet. the search continues, the u.s.

there is a busy environment. the weather conditions are good. as things stand, demand from the president, to intensify that an official search and rescue effort. that is good to paris, what can you tell us in the, offering the

advice on the aircraft as well. pretty good condition, relatively you in the plane was in fairly good condition. the french and to see whether or not there i is. >> to richard. once they find that, it will determine the direction the investigation will take.

from alal qaeda, and isis. you are waiting for human. planes falling out of the sky, something goes wrong, and the pilots mishandle and dis -- those black pockets are and the

black boxes survive that. once they located the debris, and find the fuselage, then they get the black boxes. >> bhak fo cairo. becky, as you know, the disappearance, shying a light on how they handle the situation this time. here, the security for which, the maintenance for which. was outside of egypt.

clearly, 30 egyptian passengers on pressure on the authorities here, to work out, still much confusion, more questions disappeared en route, with 66 people on board. another thought is that this is a plane taken down by a bomb. >> authorities have no idea to support that. based on congesture. fell out of the cause is more even that it took months, to

admit to what happened with the me mete -- there. a flight inbound much discrepancies yesterday, thursday, this is now been in the mix for 24 hours. first details. 2:29, 360 to the right before disappearing, that is coming from greek authorities. the discrepancies come from

greinke. we suggested debris has been found. that is road back on. that discrepancy, did come from the mouth of the egypt business. what we do be building the pilots, identify and as report on board that flight from outside, as you know. the facility where many of the

family gathered some are put up in hotels close controlled strirmt. a lot of frus tragsz, as the relatives only to find out that it continues to be a sench and by cypress. >> the fact that egyptians took such a long time. that could take off for an

egyptian airport. looking at it now. >> well, the terror angle, if there is a possible terror leak early, they need -- it is just a few days. >> security looking for the weak links. if there was a device on board, we are told that it is -- after

terror attacks in europe. they wrapped up secure further. if they were, you look at the humans, human witness in the chain that me be there. it was on the ground in paris, the fo us is good. the number of any de. it it was an act of terror sideline? the parties that bottom in in it

turns out to be if you are looking the moment that it the mo mome moment the french pros, if the image is deemed to be terrorism or a bomb.

>> appreciate it, thank you. >> stay with us. we will be back, more breaking news coverage after a short break. to severe rheumatoid arthritis, and you're talking to your doctor about your medication... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain

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"yeah, completely painless." "credit karma. give yourself some credit." . >> maintenance checks taken before the plane took off didn't turn up any problems. they are working on a theory, that a bomb could take the plane down. that could change. >> former fbi agent, steve moore. >> the theory that the plane was

brought down by an act of terrorism. the egyptians do have a problem with isis, and terrorism. that is why there is so much suspicion. >> that's right. we are talking about it earlier, surpriseded by many, how quick the egyptians have been to suggest this is like lly a terr attack, since the situation back in november, for the egyptians to admit terrorism. it is important to point out that chief prosecutor here in egypt has referred the case to the state security prosecutors, suggesting early on, within the first 24 hours, that this case is to be considered a criminal

investigation. we are and have heard reports that there has been a statement from the president here demanding that search be intensified, and that every effort be made by the navy and air force, to recover this plane as it stands at present, to rescue those involved. this continues, of course, to be a search and rescue effort. you are right to point out, this is just another issue for the egyptians, as it were, already, grappling with so much, when it comes to terrorism, in the peninsula, and sits on the border, with libya, for example,

we are well aware of the activity there and what is a cha chaot chaotic civil war. the timing couldn't be worse for the egyptians, clearly. many experts calling out the speed at which the egyptians are at least try to be ahead of what is going on here, the search and rescue is concerned, and rolling back on details, family members here, want to assume they are working hard to make shaur that discontinue happen again. the search continues eby britann, france, and initially, still a serve and restue.

difficult time for the egyptians. >> how do the investigators go back definitively reaching the conclusion whether or not it was terrorism. >> sadly, it will be in the past. if this was a bomb that went off, there will be chemical f s fres -- sadly, in human bodies, ru bringing everything up, you are x-raying all the bodies, all the luggage, looking desperately for that. >> you mentioned last hour, looking for throughs at this point, they are live there this

hour. and this scene is the possible weak link, a terrorist attack. a big increase in security. after the paris terror attacks. >> absolutely, unprecedented levels of security at the moment. many commentators. show why there wasn't a complete security sweep off the aircraft there wasn't an address on the

board is investigating. we are talking about 24 hours after the incident. they are chasing terror suspects of any kind. no word yet. >> and well, max, appreciate it steve, let me ask you this. we heard max talking about the ramping up of security, more generally speaking, what is the threat level posed to aviation? by groups like isis, and al qaeda. >> they decided this is the gold standard, this is the big hit.

everyone has their list, this is threatened, they decided that is their target. we will be as safe as we have the encourage to be when you have 70 airport work eers radicalism. we find some are employed in the we don't have the backbone to protect you. >> it politics of it all now. prakticalities as well. where the ball may have been. if it was a bomb, where the blast happened, in the cargo hold, or main.

>> you will find people have been saying, if there is an explosion it falls apart. that isn't true anywhere. you will have to have a lot of it is in the cargo. it was. >> i see what you are saying. i think it is something detonated in the cabin. just a hunch. >> how much explosives do you need to drink down? >> if you had blastic explosive. get a couple of -- protection.

can have a mechanic put it up in the wheel well observe it takes off. so many possibilities. >> we need to stress, we do not know what happened. if it was a bomb, acts of ferrorism. >> steve, thank you. we will take a break. much more of our breaking news coverage after this.

welcome back, right now, a massive search is underway for any sign of egist air flight 804. they lost contact with the plane early thursday, flies from paris to cairo with 66 people on board. most of the passengers on board for egyptian and french nationals. coverage of the story for us. in egypt. and allan deal joins us, the author of using signs to save lives, one crash at a time. >> we asked you the last hour, whether you were surprised they

hadn't found anything yet of this missing aircraft. talk to us about the challenges, and the investigators are facing in the search. >> we talked about, if there was a terrorist act, the perfect place for it to occur. the water makes it so much more difficult to spot the wreckage. not everything is going to float. that provides a large challenge. it will be days before they spot wreckage. i am guessing. weeks before they recover most of it. and months before they analyze it metro check, occurred over a dry desert, and within weeks, they were saying, we found evidence of a pyrotechnique device. unless you get a floating piece

of wreckage, the kind you see with high energy explosives. >> stay with us. talk to us about the logistics of the and the area they are looking at right now. >> a huge area. the countries involved. e, jipt, u.s., britain, italy, the president demanded the intensification of that sench. and putting in resources from civil aviation here, from the army and indeed, from the navy. and the case or the investigation has been referred by the chief proprietary to the

state security prosecutor. suggesting that this is now very quickly, by the egyptians, considered a criminal investigation. they see it as likely terrorism, and putting in all resources to get the search and rescue intensified, in what is a huge area in the mediterranean. we have been pointing out, enormous amount of traffic in that area, a huge shipping area. there will be a may that i can up this morning, 24 hours, on from the first news they got, family members aboard a flight

it was set up as a there were med iblgs here, support for those waiting as we say, too. how quickly egyptian authorities veering toward treating it as a possible terror situation. given that your guest is pointing it out, it was months, as many as six mr.s, before the it was turned over to security. >> going to we know max, this same erhoff and who had access

to the aircraft while on the ground there. >> simply because the water all the passengers left the plane, when that arrives in paris, the focus is on whether or not a device had gotten on the plane at this point, via any people who were in contact with that plane as it was here at the airport. becky talking about how the level of investigation is ramped up in egypt. in terms of possible terror lengths here they are not talking about terror. it is not at that level of

investigation. it is 24 hours. there is no indication, officially at least, that would suggest sabotage on the plane. behind the scenes, they are preparing for a possible outcome that does that. and st. mary's involved hoar, the french intel jans average they are not highlighting the terror angle at the moment. >> thank you. >> what signs will they be looking for? >> there are material signatures, john.

bomb blasts, leave exclusively, high velocity hitting, vekical fa failures they can tell you, when you take the debris into the lab, put it under a skaning microscope. have to establish what caused the mechical process. worked on a couple of boeings that ended up in the water f it is in the water, it will be a long longer carefully examine it. >> there will be a lot to

intercept if they find degree. how confidence are you in their capabilities of handle n it sb will be there. minimally, they are smart enough to know when to ask for help. we are not supposed to say this, the koe hipilot was a fret clinton to have the n it sb run

it. there could be complicate ionco. with the concerns over, the metro jet was in the desert. >> interesting point about the politics going on behind the scenes, we never know about it until -- >> and thank you, a short break. when we come back, the u.s. presidential candidates are

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. a massive search continues in the mediterranean sea for any sign of the egist air plane. >> officials with knowledge of the investigation tell cnn, checks of the passenger manifest have not come up with any hits on terror watch lists. an exclusive interview with this. cc. tighten airport security on a world that depends on air

travel. >> the shines a bright light on the isis, of course, there are other networks of terrorists, that have to be hunted down and defe defeated. >> he lashed out on the plane disappearance and clinton at the same time. >> today, a terrible tragedy, she came up and said, donald trump talked about radical islamic terrorism. i said, what happened 12 hours ago, a plane is blown out of the sky. if you don't think it was, ru

100% wrong. >> most americans' reaction was nait was terrorism. the fact that donald trump was so quick, it reminds us, he is someone who will call it like it is. and one of the issues, can this fit into the confines of an american president. take a look to what she had to say about this. >> when you run for president of the united states, the entire

world is listening and watching. when you say we are going to borrow muslim world, and to the terror i felts, we have seen him be a recruiter for them to join the cause. is this a turning point in the campaign? >> some polls, although, tonight, 25 seconds down. you sauz her two biggest, the big portions of the country even

race of the -- >> she made this accusation, and wasn't accurate, now it is. she went on to say he is not fit to be president. >> do you think that donald trump is qualified to be qual y qualified to be president? a despot icdespottic -- the kin positions that he is stating, and the consequences of those positions, and even the consequences of his statements.

a they are motential ly someone outside of the boundsries. for many voters. for women voters, the unsettling part of he mare seem too erratic. both of them are compartial week she had a 21-that is where they

need . >> democrats are getting uneasy where this is going, there is no question it is taking a toll on hillary clinton. there is no aspect of the public image that was in a stronger position now before starting the race. the she said today, she is going to be the nominee. won three million more votes. in the u.s., she won 14 of them. slee the conflict ramped up again. some of the polls. >> stay in the race.

>> thank you. >> okay, top story, the search for eg

. welcome back to breaking news coverage, it has been an excruciating wait, there were three security personnel, five crew members in the cabin, two in the cockpick. 30 passengers from egypt. iran, saudi arabia,. >> here they say something else. you don't know what is the truth. we pray to god he won't bring us bad news. we don't understand, we want to understand. their words should be

credibility, so they are not all over the place. >> some it will us tp didn't fall, some say, the black fox is communicating signals, where is the truth? we don't know. >> we will join you with more after a short break. sclr

this is cnn breaking news. hello, and welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world, i'm john vause live in los angeles, it has just gone 11:00 on a thursday night. >> and i'm isha sesay. the debris found earlier in the mediterranean sea did not come from the missing jet. air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane thursday as it flew from paris to cairo with 66 people on board.

>>e esmost of the people on boa were french. it's possible a terror attack brought down the plane. >> the situation may point, i said may. i don't want to go to speculation. i don't want to go to assumptions like others, but if you analyze this situation properly, the possibility of having a different action aboard, of having a terror attack is higher than having a technical problem. >> as the investigation continues, security has been heightened at los angeles international airport out of an abundance of caution. security, too, has been increased at an um in of other airports around the world. cnn has reporters across the region covering this story from every angle. >> max foster brings us from charles de gaulle in paris and becky anderson joins us from cairo. >> it's been daylight for three or four hours. this is a multi-national search

spread out over a wide area. >> reporter: that's correct. the egyptians and the greeks supported by the u.s., by the french, by the british, by the cypriots and by the italians, we are told, much confusion, i'm afraid. more questions than answers. we know that flight egyptair flight 804 disappeared en route from charles de gaulle to cairo with 66 people on board. the early theory of government officials is that this is terrorism, that this plane was taken down by a many would. but frankly, authorities have no evidence to substantiate that. one authority telling cnn the theory is based on conjecture at this point, because as they pointed out, the plane seems to have fallen out of the sky, but there is no smoking gun yet. the cause is likely to be terrorism than a technical

issue. and there's a sense, i guess, that an effort to avoid the sort of accusations of a lack of transparency on the behalf of the egyptian government that were levied against it before and after the investigation into the russian metrojet 9268 which was downed after leaving sharm el sheikh in egypt in november of last year. there was a sense that perhaps the egyptians have almost been too quick to try and provide information, an enormous amount of pressure, not least by the media and the families of those involved to get information. and we know yesterday the vice chairman of egyptair had to roll back on the announcement that he made that debris had been fund. he said that he stood corrected on that, and he apologized for it. there has been a lot of discrepancy from authorities as to the details that they know. the greek authorities that the

plane disappearing from the radar between 2:29 a.m. on thursday and 2:37, when they say it swerved some 90 degrees to the left and 360 to the right before disappearing. the egyptian ministry gave a whole other timeline of events. and meantime, the search and rescue, as you point out, goes on, it is still officially a search and rescue, and therefore, the families of those who were aboard this flight will at least keep that in mind as they wake up today and hope to get more details on their loved ones. many of whom, the relatives, many of whom were gathered here yesterday at the egyptair facility outside of the international airport here in cairo. we are told many were put up by authorities in local hotels here, and we await the arrival, if at all, of those same relatives today, who, again, it is reported, and we witnessed,

were relatively calm and collected yesterday, although very frustrated with the discrepancies, let's call them, in information as they came out. search and rescue officially continues. john? >> okay, becky, thank you. >> let's go now to paris max foster who's there. and given that there's some speculation among some that charles de gaulle may have been the weak link here, may have been the source for some nefarious activity, how are french authorities responding? >> reporter: well, we've just been hearing from the french foreign minister speaking to france too, one of the main channels in france. he's been speaking to his egyptian counterpart and that his egyptian counterpart doesn't see terror or the only stand out in the investigation here. they're be being very open minded about this. terror does come into it. this is what the french foreign

minister has had in the last few minutes. all assumptions are reviewed, but none is favored, because we have absolutely no indication of the causes of this event. but certainly, if terror is a concern, and one of the lines of the investigation, that is something that they are focussing on at charles de gaulle, because the plane left from here, and if there was a weak link, it would have appeared here, because there was a complete security sweep of the plane as it landed here. all the passengers got off and new passengers got on. so looking at whether or not aircrew or ground crew were in any way compromised and could have sabotaged the plane. it's not the only line of investigation at this point, so the paris prosecutor's office is involved here. it is investigating, as are the national police. we haven't heard any official lines on terrorism and whether or not that's the primary concern so far. so it's just one of the strands of the investigation so far, isha. >> this was an airbus.

it took off from paris. when they found some of this debris, assuming that they do find this debris, where do they take this debris? does it go back to cairo? does it go back to paris? or to france, rather, because they have that laboratory where they can analyze these pieces of wreckage. >> reporter: they're taking the lead, the egyptian air traffic investigators, but we know the three air traffic investigators from france have left to join that investigation. and also, technicians from airbus as well, the manufacturer of the plane to advise. certainly, in other investigations they've been sent to the u.k., for example, the black boxes, once they've been found. we know the french foreign minister is very focussed on the black boxes, trying to find out what they can from them. so the immediate concern is recovering those as well, and then if airbus or the french

investigators have the most expertise, and i'm sure the egyptians will lean on that and will potentially bring the black boxes to france or the u.k. so we'll wait to see what the egyptians decide on that. >> okay, max, thank you. max foster there live in paris and becky anderson live in cairo. >> our thanks to you both. now as we mentioned, most of the passengers were egyptian and french citizens, but people from other countries were on board too. a portuguese was identified. the 62-year-old was working in south africa, married with 2004 children. another passenger was an employee at procter & gamble in france. you see him here on the right in glasses. just last month. the company says he was on a personal trip. >> 56 passengers on board, 53 were adults with one child and two infants the and of the crew members, five were cabin crew, two were cockpit crew and three

w were security. among those gathering are family members of a flight attendant. >> translator: pray for her, please, pray for them of the she is still a bride. she got married six, seven months ago. we are confused. we don't know the truth. some say it fell in the sea. some say it is in the air. some say it didn't fall. some say the black box is communicating signals. but where is the truth? it's with god. we don't know anything. >> an agonizing time for these families. >> and we have to keep reminding everybody, this is still early, you know, when you compare to mh 370 which has dragged on for years. this is just the second day. the search will go on. they will eventually find the debris, maybe days or weeks and the investigation will move forward. >> coming up, officials have not ruled out a terror attack in the

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this is cnn breaking news. i'm becky anderson outside the international airport in cairo, in egypt, where there is still much confusion and more questions than answers about the egyptair flight 804 that disappeared en route from charles de gaulle airport in paris to cairo with6 people on board. the early theory of u.s. officials is that this was terrorism, that this plane was taken down by a bomb, but frankly, authorities have no evidence to substantiate that. one source told cnn this theory is based on conjecture at this point, because as they pointed out, the plane appears to have fallen out of the sky, but there is no smoking gun as of yet. egypt's view is the cause is

more likely to be terrorism than a technical issue. and the egyptian president el sisi has demanded that the search for this plane intensifies. he's called in the civil aviation authorities, the air force and the navy. and they have also here significantly referred the investigation and the case from the chief prosecutor to the head of state security, suggesting that they believe that there is now a criminal investigation to be had in all of this. perhaps trying to avoid the accusations of the lack of transparency leveled at the government over the downing of the russian metrojet 9268 back in november where it took a very long time for egyptian authorities to actually come out with the information that indeed that that had been as a result

of terror activity. there is, though, much discrepancy from authorities as to the details, as they know they wi them now on this flight 24 hours on. and the greek authorities who are very much playing a part in all of this, as far as the search and rescue is concerned have said that the plane, as far as they are concerned, disappeared from the radar between 2:29 a.m. thursday and 2:37, when they say it swerved 90 degrees to the left and 360 to the right before disappearing. the egyptian minister gave a whole other timeline of events. as things stand at present and with the expectation that relatives of those 66 people on board will gather here once again at the egyptair facility, which has been set up as a crisis center. the search and rescue efforts continues. max? >> becky, all assumptions are

reviewed, but none is favored. that's what the french foreign ministers just told the france two network here in pairs, suggesting that all options are on the table here, not just terror, not just mechanical. they're completely open minded because he says we have absolutely no indications of the causes of this event. he said the government reinforced all security measures since the january attacks and is including charles de gaulle airport here. we have other important events ahead of us, such as euro 2016. so security levels have been ramped up and the reason he's suggesting that is that charles de gaulle airport could be the weak link here if indeed this was a terror attack. could something have got on the plane here at charles de gaulle that cause add explosion and caused the downing of that aircraft. all options are on the table. and we have no evidence that that is the case. but that's one of the lines of investigation here, and human contact with the plane is the primary line of investigation

there. who had contact with that aircraft, ground crew, aircrew, passengers, who could possibly compromise the safety of that aircraft. the paris prosecutor's office who oversees terror investigations hasn't suggested terror. so all lines of investigation being looked at with certainly terror is one of them. isha and john. >> thanks, max. >> thank you, max. thank you, becky. now the for instance foreign minister spoke with france two as you heard max mention about the missing plane. he said this, we're searching for wreckage of the plane. france is contributing to the search along with greece and other countries. we need to find these fragments, analyze them, we need to find the black boxes. we want the truth, the whole truth. well, egypt has had to deal with other aviation disasters. >> there are political concerns here. >> reporter: just hours after

the plane disappeared from radar, the egyptian government said the plane was likely brought down bay act of terrorism. >> if you analyze the situation properly, the possibility of having a different action or having a terror attack is higher than the possibility of having a technical -- >> reporter: the plane went down just a day after secretary of state john kerry was in cairo for urgent talks with egypt's president about the growing terror threat. today kerry was quick to offer help. >> the united states is providing assistance in the search effort, and relevant authorities are doing everything dhe to try to find out what the facts are of what happened today. >> reporter: it took four months for egypt to acknowledge that terrorists were to blame for last objectctober's plane crash.

and russia, the u.s. and other countries publicly said terrorists were responsible. >> that was a direct reflection on the lack of professionalism of the security forces at the airport and a blow to their tourism industry. so they needed, they were resisting any indication that they were responsible for this. >> reporter: to this day, egypt insists the 1999 crash was brought on by mechanical failure, even though american investigators released a transcript of a cockpit voice recorder they say confirms their findings. the plane deliberately nosedived the plane into the atlantic ocean, killing 217 passengers and crew. this time it may be easier for cairo to point the finger at terrorism, after flight 804 made stops in tunisia and eritrea before being searched in paris. >> egypt tries to do the best job that it can in combating

terrorism. we have our hands full, but a country like france with far more resources than we do, they weren't able to catch this. this is a big job, and we all got to do it together. >> reporter: with president el sisi under fire for human rights abuses, an act of terrorism could validate his claim that his acts are combating terrorism. >> foreign visitors and others are safe. >> if the plane was brought down by terrorists, it will be another devastating blow to egypt's already suffering tourism industry which suffered a major hit after the metrojet crash, a 40% loss in revenue. the government had big plans to revive the tourism industry, including enhanced security measures. but this will ontarly enhance

concerns. greek air traffic controllers say they lost contact with egyptair flight 804 just as it was preparing to enter egyptian airspace. the plane began turning erratically and losing altitude from 37,000 feet down to 10,000 before dropping off radar. >> we're joined by steve moore. on. tell me this. we're hearing from egyptian officials that this is likely to be a terrorist attack, some type of bomb perhaps. is that because that's the most likely scenario right now? or they have other hard evidence, or you go through that now because you don't have the wreckage? >> regard loss of whether you've decided it's terrorism or not, you have to start the investigation just in case. you have to be, the evidence will be gone if you don't. but the reason people are jumping on terrorism right now is that airplanes in the cruise portion of the flight do not go down on their own it is, somebody has to intervene

somehow. they just, statistically don't. >> this is the safest part of any mighflight. >> yes. >> so that being said, it also raises the question of chatter. wouldn't this have been picked up? what would have been detected? or are we talking about a level of expertise now where these kind of people can evade detection. how do you read it? >> the years where we listened to chatter, and that was significant, it's still significant, but at a much lower level, because they're using this leaderless resistance, this cellular type activity where they're not getting instructions from headquarters, from the mothership, they're doing it on their own, and people who have come from a terrorist training camp have the skills to make these kind of ieds. >> one working theory, if this was a lone cell that carried it out, if it was, again, a terrorist attack, it has not

been confirmed, which is why there is no claim of responsibility? because we haven't heard anything yet. >> when isis sees a plane go down, you can almost imagine in their offices, if they have offices, saying somebody find out if this was one of ours, did we do this. >> did we do this. >> and that literally is what happens with this lone wolf, these individual, autonomous cells. >> but even if they didn't direct it, one would expect them to claim the kudos, for want of a better word. >> they will want to do that in the days following, but they don't want to say, well, it was a bomb placed in the rear luggage compartment, and then find out it was a passenger in first class. they want to have enough information so that their claim of credibility is corroborated. >> if it was some kind of bomb, which managed to get on board this plane, everyone who takes a

plane will say hang on, does that mean they now have the technology to get past the bomb detection devices? >> not necessarily at all. it could be something like tatp which is nitrogen based, which would get past some of our stuff, or, it could be, and this is probably more likely in my thought process. it could be somebody who is sympathetic to the radical islamic cause at the airport at de gaulle or at the airport at brussels who just slapped one of these things in the landing gear. >> you mentioned de gaulle. you mentioned brussels. this plane also was in eritrea for a moment and in tunisia. how significant is that to you? does that throw up significant red flags? or are you focussed on paris? >> i would be focussed on paris, simply because it was the last place. i would not be monday litically focussed on it, because you're going to have to go to tunis and

eritrea. eritrea is 50/50 muslim/christian. and tunis, is, if you've been there, it's a security bastion. >> now you look at anybody who had access to the plane, and that could be thousands of people? >> at least hundreds. and, but there's no shortcut to this. >> right. you got to do the legwork. >> yeah. >> thank you. >> thank you. all right, still ahead, we'll have more expert analysis as we continue our breaking news coverage of missing egyptair flight 804. stay with us. (announcer) need to hire fast?

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it's not just security, it's defense. bae systems. phenomen this is cnn breaking news. hello, everyone, welcome back to our breaking news coverage of the missing egyptair plane. the plane took off just after

11:00 wednesday night from paris with 66 people on board. it headed south to cairo and entered greek airspace at 1:24 in the morning. >> it checked in with greek air traffic control as it passed over an island and the pilot was reportedly cheerful, thanked controllers. less than an hour after that, at 2:27 in the morning, air traffic control tried to contact the pilot, two minutes later it dropped from radar. >> here is where the plane stopped in the 24 hours leading up to its disappearance. it had flown from eritrea to cairo. then it headed to tunis. >> next to cairo and then paris before dropping off the radar on its return flight to cairo. >> john baugh is an aviation expert. he joins us now from slovenia

via skype. thank you for being with us. this is the third major aviation crisis for egypt thiss eyear. there's a lot of contradictory statements. what's your assessment of how they're doing? >> good morning. first of all, our thoughts are very much with the families after this tragic event. it's still very early stages here, there are a lot of unasked questions. we don't know what's happened, who, what was responsible. and the debris, despite false alarms earlier, still hasn't been located. so clearly, early stages in the sequence of events here. what we do know is the a-320 is a workhorse of the industry. there's more than 7,000 aircraft delivered since 1988. the claim is that the a-320

family, there's an aircraft taking off every two seconds. so it's important to put on the record here, that though there's been fatal accident, it's still got an outstanding safety record in the industry, and there's no question about that. some interesting comments, i think, from egyptair, and i think the deputy ceo there. the aircraft is 13 years old. and, as i say, it's accumulated 48,000 flight hours. it's our understanding that the aircraft would recently have undergone major maintenance check, a major structural check. and this is very significant. i don't think any of the other commentators have discussed this. with it being 13 years old, this major structural check would have taken place last year, probably towards the end of last year. now my company, we work extensively with major maintenance and engineering

facilities all over the world. in fact, i'm actually talking to you from a 320 maintenance engineering facility in central europe right now. and we know the maintenance engineering facility. it's very reputable. although it is 13 years old, and they did the check last year, it's a very exhaustive check. they almost take the aircraft apart. everything that can be removed is removed. it's a very, very inclusive check. and the conclusion that we've drawn from this is that it's very unlikely that there'll have been structural or major failure through corrosion or fatigue or wear and tear. so i think that's a very important point at this stage in terms of eliminating likely causes here.

>> okay. john, we appreciate your insight there. john bell with aviation consulting firm joining us with insight. >> thank you, john. more of our breaking news coverage of the missing egyptair jet is coming up as we discuss the pilots' training. do stay with us for that.

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this is cnn breaking news. i'm becky anderson outside

of cairo international airport in egypt, where there is much confusion and still more questions than answers about the egyptair flight 804 that disappeared en route from paris charles de gaulle to cairo on thursday with 66 people on board. the early theory of the united states government officials is that this was terrorism, that this maplane was taken down by bomb. but there is no evidence to substantiate that. one source telling cnn this is purely based on conjecture, because there is no smoking gun at this point. egypt's view is that the cause is more likely to be terrorism than a technical issue. and the president here has demanded the intensification of the search efforts. he has called in civil aviation, the navy and the air force in an effort to find out exactly where

this plane is and then what's happened. and significantly, the egyptians have referred this case, the chief prosecutor, has referred this case to the state security prosecutor, suggesting that the egyptians see this as a criminal investigation. it is early of course, just after 24 hours since we first learned this plane had disappeared. but there has been much discrepancy from authorities since then as to the details. the greek authorities said the plane disappearing from the radar between 2:29 a.m. and 2:37 when it swerved to the left and then to the right before disappearing. the egyptian aviation minister gave a whole other timeline of events. and then there were reports that debris had been found. those are been rolled back and egyptair saying they stand corrected on that. difficult, this discrepancy,

clearly, for those looking to investigate this and indeed, for the relatives of those people who were on board. we do finally know at this stage that the pilots aboard the flight were very experienced. the captain mohammed sacorps having 6,000 flying hours, and the co-pilot was experienced. the search is officially still search and rescue. the greeks and french supported bit cypriots,cypriots, italians u.s. at this point. >> questions are being asked about whether the plane was sabotaged in some way before it left here at charles de gaulle airport. but the french foreign minister being very clear that that's only one of the lines of investigation. at this stage, i think we need to be careful. i talked twice to my egyptian counterpart on the phone yesterday, he didn't say

terrorism was favored. he said he wanted all possibilities to be examined. so there just isn't enough information at this point to work out what line of investigation should be pray or advertised, let alone what the cause of this was. and he's also pointing out that huge amount of security now at charles de gaulle airport after a series of terror incidents in paris, also in brussels earlier this year, again, security being ramped up. more screening, more cctv in place here, and they're looking ahead to the euro 2016 football championships in france as well. so security being ramped up yet again. so people cannot fathom how on earth any sort of device could have gotten on the plane here. it could only be compromised by humans somehow. so they're looking through who had contact with this aircraft. ground crews, aircrews, passengers, and going through all the intelligence surrounding all the individuals there, also any footage that might be in

placement they're coordinating with the u.s. intelligence authorities, also with the egyptian intelligence authorities here. so clearly, terrorism is a line of investigation here, but it's not the only line. back to l.a. >> thank you. max foster live in charles de gaulle airport and before that, becky anderson live in khai roc. >> an egyptian authority is defending the crew. >> our crews are very well trained. we have one of the state-of-the-art facilities. we abide by all international rules, so there's no explanation for me to give you at this stage. i need to look at more facts and more investigations to have an idea of what happened. >> let's bring in jeffrey thomas, editor in chief of airline.com many. >> we're talking about the crew

here, the captain, the first officer, they're being looked at very closely. how much focus is on the captain of this plane right now? >> look, at this stage, not a lot. from what we understand, very competent captain, and going on from what the official from egyptair said, egyptair has a very good reputation when it comes to maintenance and the age of its fleet. it's got a modern fleet. it's certainly meeting, it is a very good airline. so as far as the maintenance of the airplane, the competence of egyptair to operate a very efficient airline and the captain and co-pilot, i don't think there's any particular focus on that at all. i think obviously, we would look at that, but i don't think it's

a serious part of the investigation at this stage. although, i having said that, there has been some -- sorry, go on? >> no, i didn't mean to cut you off there, but let me just ask you how satisfied you are with how they are handling the investigation at present? obviously, as you well know, earlier on today we were told that they had found wreckage from 804 only for that to be walked back. our richard quest made the point that this is really the fault of the greek authorities and that egyptair was merely repeating it. but be that as it may, it was the vice chairman who had to walk that back. how troubling is that to you and overall your sense of how they're handling things now? >> look, it is very distressing, obviously very distressing for the relatives left behind, but in a natural fact, the people who run this investigation, it's not in fact egyptair. it is the civil aviation authority of egypt. they are the ones charged with the responsibility of running this. they, then, bring in the

relevant, the counterparts in france, because it's an airbus airplane. the united states, because it's american avionics on board, the british, because rolls-royce is part of the iae for engines. so we get the investigators coming to the. egyptair obviously is part of that. but they're not the lead in this investigation, the egyptian authorities r and what we found with the metrojet disaster back in october of last year, is we had the authority, we had press making comments, this is where it gets confusing, and we get the graeeks getting involved as far as what's going on and what's not going on, and that's where all this confusion comes from, it's generally politicians and people not related to the investigation who are causing all the problems.

>> all right. >> jeffrey thomas, thank you for joining us with your insight. a little bit of news to bring our viewers in terms of the search. greek officials there, greek ships are no longer participating in this search right now for any debris of ms 804. apparently, they've been pulled back from the search zone. >> we'll try to find out why that is taking place and the significance to the search that's taking place in that area. we'll bring those details to you when we can. >> next on "cnn newsroom," a cnn exclusive, hillary clinton weighs in on the egyptair tragedy and has tough words for her republican rival, donald trump.

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welcome back, everyone, hillary clinton says egyptair 804 disaster reenforces the need for global partners to share intelligence and tighten airport security. >> in an exclusive interview with chris cuomo she spoke about the tragedy and donald trump. >> it does appear that it was an act of terrorism. exactly how, the investigation will have to determine.

but it wednesday again shines a very bright light on the threats that we face from organized terror groups. isis of course, but there are other terror networks that have to be hunted down and defeated. when you run for president of the united states, the entire world is listening and watching. so when you say we're going to bar all muslims, you are sending a message to the muslim world, and you're also sending a message to the terrorists, because we do now have evidence. we have seen how donald trump is being used to essentially be a recruiter for more people to join the cause of terrorism. i know how hard this job is. and i know that we need steadiness as well as strength and smarts in it. and i have concluded he is not qualified to be president of the united states. >> donald trump fired back on thursday saying clinton is not fit to be president during this time in history. >> speaking in new jersey, the

resumtive republican nominee reacted to the egyptair tragedy and hillary clinton almost simultaneously. >> so today we had a terrible tragedy and said donald trump talked about radical islamic terrorism, which she doesn't want to use. she use the a different term, because she doesn't want to use that term. she refuses to use that term, and i'm saying to myself, and it's a terrible thing, and he essentially shouldn't be running for office. he doesn't have the right to run for office, and i'm saying to myself, what just happened about 12 hours ago? a plane got blown out of the sky, and if anything, if anybody thinks it wasn't blown out of the sky, you're 100% wrong, folks. >> well, we spoke earlier with cnn's senior political analyst ron brownstein. >> and he said that donald trump's shoot from the hip style

could be a problem for h. >> the question of his temperament. hillary clinton and donald trump almost identically weak on shares your values, but on temperament, who has the temperament, she's plus 21. and she's up 47-41 in the overall poll. it is going to be one of the biggest hurdles, and it's why she's pushing at that button today. >> hillary clinton also making headlines with comments she made about bernie sanders, effectively saying the race is over, it's time to get on board. take a listen to what she said. >> when i came out and withdrew and endorsed senator obama, about 40%, according to polls,

about 40% of my supporters said they would never support him. so i worked really hard to make the case, as i'm sure senator sanders will, that whatever differences we might have, they pale in comparison to the presumptive nominee of the republican party. >> okay. this was the reply from the sanders campaign. in the past three weeks, voters in indiana disagree with hillary clinton. we expect voters in the remaining contests will also disagree. and with polls in the stating showing sanders doing much, much better against trump than hillary clinton it is clear that many have doubts about what she has said. >> it's frustration, right? at the end of april, it looked hike bernie sanders was bringing this thing in for a landing. but here we are in may and the vitriol is high as any point. even as you've had a number of polls showing donald trump

tightening. democrats are getting uneasy. she has won 3 million more votes than he has. she's won 14 of the states. he hasn't been able to win the big states. she is going to be the nominee. i think it's a little unclear why they are ramping it up as far as the conflict so high at a point when the outlook is foregone. we will continue with our coverage of the missing egyptair flight as family members speak out about the fate of their loved ones. ink. not ink. getting ink doesn't have to be painful. staples just cut ink and toner prices. add in our 110% price match guarantee and our prices are unbeatable. staples. make more happen. and intellectual propertylines about bubeing stolen.g hacked that is cyber-crime. and it affects each and every one of us.

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welcome back, everyone. officials are racing to fug oig out what happened to missing egypt air 804. it disappeared thursday soon after entering egyptian airspace. >> the flight was headed from paris to cairo. families of the missing passengers have been gathering to look for answers and share their grief. >> translator: he was in paris

where he dropped off his kids a week ago and was coming to egypt for a conference. we spoke to him yesterday. we also spoke to his kids. they are at the airport, and they will be going back to kuwait. >> translator: she was a newly wed who got married six or seven months ago. i asked for the flight to be hijacked or something like that instead of what we've been told. we have hope. >> well, you've been watching cnn's breaking news coverage, i'm john vause. >> and i'm isha sesay. >> we are live in atlanta, i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george howell. we continue to follow the breaking news of the disappearance of egyptair flight 804. >> it is 9:00 a.m. a short time

ago, greece announced it was pulling back its ships from the search area but is still offering air support in the search. crews thought they found wreckage on thursday, but it turns out it was not debris from the plane. >> air traffic control lost contact with this airbus a 320 early thursday morning as it left greek airspace on its way to cairo. the puzzling part of all this is that the plane was cruising at 37,000 feet, a very safe part of the flight before it dropped from radar. >> the greek defense minister says the jet swerved out of control before plunging to 10,000 feet. we're still waiting to learn more about the 66 people on board, as families, of course cling to hope for their loved ones. >> there are so many questions at this hour. 15 of the people on board were french citizens, france is also part of this investigation. >> within the past hour, the

country's foreign minister said there is no indication as to what led to the flight's disappearance. he also said security is tight at charles de gaulle airport, especially so after the paris attacks in january and november of last year. cnn is covering this from all angles. our team of correspondents, producers and experts around the world are all part of our programming. we're live in france, greece, and egypt this hour. >> that includes the anchor of "connect the world", our becky anderson who is live in cairo airport and max foster live at charles de gaulle airport. there are two working theories. one terrorism or mechanical failure. the first suspect the more by egyptian officials than the latter. the french foreign minister says to the contrary, there is quote, absolutely no indication of

causes at this point. so what more are you hearing there hat paris? >> reporter: it's inevitably, people are asking questions about whether or not the plane was sabotaged in some way as it sat at charles de gaulle airport. there's a security clearance as it came in. so everyone's assuming it was clear when it came in, but maybe it was compromised somehow by aircrew or ground crew or passengers. the point the french foreign minister is making is that terrorism isn't the only line of investigation. this is what he said in the last couple of hours to france two. >> translator: i think we must be careful at this stage to my counterpart, yesterday did not say that. he said we have to speak in complete transparency to act as a total cooperation between

egypt and france. >> reporter: so, george, the point he was really making is that security is so tight here, it couldn't be any tighter. it's been ramped up every time there's been a parris attack. but also looking ahead to 2016, the euro championship. it's extraordinary, of all airports a device could get on a plane here. >> max, if the egyptians are on to something, if terrorism is indeed a factor here, you bring this up, that issue of security at the airport, walk us through what an investigation would look like, looking into the pilot, looking into the crew members, and looking into the people who have access, who had access to that plane. >> reporter: well, it's really looking at that human link, isn't it, because that's where the weaknesses often are,

finding that weak link, you need to look at the humans involved. so it does very much depend on looking at the background checks of any people involved who could have vaguely had any contact with that aircraft. i'm joined now from our affiliate bfn here in france. just explain to me what you're hearing from what the authorities, in terms of the line of investigation that is terror related as opposed to mechanical or any other reasons that could have caused this aircraft to come down. >> you will have noticed, and it is striking how careful french authorities have been so far in this choice of words, whether it be the foreign minister. we heard him a few minutes ago or the french president, francois hollande. they are not ruling anything out, but they are being very careful with what they say. and the french president has made it clear he will not speak again until he has solid

information as to whether this is indeed a terrorist attack or not. and clearly, if it was, it would be devastating. as you have pointed out as far as the investigation is concerned, it will look at anything and everything that will have to do with this plane, what happened from the moment it got to paris, who had access to it, and of course, you have said, and this is quite right, that after the terrorist attacks in france in january and november this past year, also after the bombing of a terminal in brussels airport back in march, security measures at the french airports have been considerably tightened, and it would be devastating to find out that even after all those precautions it would still be possible to bring a bomb aboard an airplane in one of the paris airports. >> reporter: in terms of the investigation and whether or not a device could have got on the aircraft, obviously, the authorities have to act very

quickly if they suspect that something like that may have happened, because if there in are suspects out there, they need to be chasing them ase speak and trying to locate them before they go too far. so why aren't we hearing more about the police operations in relation to that line of investigation? >> because they're being very cautious to what they are going to do and they don't want to make what they're doing public. it is a very critical times, as you mknow, max, for many reason in france. it is the absolute conviction of french authorities that france is the number one target of islamic state and the head alluded to that. and there is that soccer championship starting in france. three weeks ago from today. so that's very close, and what that means is that 1 million

foreign visitors are going to come to france on this occasion, including many of those, of course, through the airports. there will be games in many stadiums in ten different french cities. there will be so-called fan zones, big fan zone in each of those ten cities, in which thousands of people will be gathering in front of large screens with foods and entertainment and all of that. all of those things are major security concerns, and they're working very hard to make sure that if it is a terrorist attack, first, that they can establish that it is, two, that they can catch these guys as quickly as possible. also, they can learn from that and take any additional precaution they can take before this big public event takes place. and they have very, very concerned about that. >> thierre arnault, thank you

for that. >> they are looking at those investigations, but they're not ruling anything out yet. >> not ruling anything out. but as you alluded to that they are looking into security and the possibility of terrorism, perhaps they're doing it quietly and in the background. max foster, thank you so much. we'll stay in touch with you. let's cross over to cairo now and cnn's becky anderson is covering the story from there for us, and i guess it's just after 9:00 there, becky, a few hours of daylight. the search has been going on now, who haall is involved in t search now, and is there any word of any break through whatsoever? >> reporter: a couple of significant developments, i think. let's just consider that in a statement by the egyptian

president els sisi yesterday, h demanded that the search be intensified and that all assets be thrown at it, the civil aviation authority, the air force and the navy. this has been very much an international effort. the greeks being involved, the brits, the french, a number of french officials have arrived here early this morning to take part in the investigation. the cypriots and italians also involved. but a significant development earlier on this morning, the greek authorities have said they have pulled the frig aate from e area where this search is going on. and they say so far as the coast guard is concerned they are not any longer involved. the search area, which is 230 miles southeast of crete is too far for the coast guard to act, they do, though, say that they have a c-130 involved, and they have other aircraft stationed in

crete that could be involved in this search and rescue effort. remember, this is still a search and rescue effort. and for the relatives of those 66 people on board flight 804, that is important. they, many of whom are gathered here yesterday, very difficult for these relatives. there was a much confusion, and many more questions than answers. yesterday, and those continue, of course, since this flight disappeared en route from charles de gaulle to cairo with these 66 people on board. we do know that the egyptians have been prepared and quite quickly, it has to be said to suggest that this is likely terrorism rather than a technical fault. to that end, you will get experts suggesting that in an effort to avoid being accused of a lack of transparency that was levied on the egyptians when the

metrojet went down from sharm el sheikh back in november, much talk that there was very little information given out, and in the end, it was only some six months later that the egyptian authorities admitted to what they knew. there seems to have been an effort to a certain extent to hmm get ahead of the information that's been coming out in this, and that has caused some discrepancies. not least when the egyptair vice chair said yesterday that debris had been found. that was information from the greeks. it appears to have been errant, and he had to come back out and say that he was standing down on that. he stood corrected, he said, well, a regular guest on this show, an expert from the atlantic council mideast division joining us now, nha, what do you make of the way that the egyptian authorities have dealt with what is now been the 28 hours or so?

>> i think they've been very quick, at least in terms of egyptair itself and the aviation authority to try to update people inside egypt and outside of egypt. i think there's a lot less pressure on the egyptians this time around as compared with the russian catastrophe, because obviously, the plane came from another country, coming into egypt, but it came from another country, so the pressure on egypt's security apparatus, in terms of proving that they'd done everything they need to do is far less. having said that, they have very good reasons with the countries involved, with greece and with france, and it's also of grave concern that anything could get on to an egyptair nigflight lik that. if it were a terror case, then it means egypt continues to be a target, which i think authorities in cairo are aware of already, but it's a very

uncomfortable reminder that even an airport as secure as charles de gaulle isn't safe. >> yeah, you've suggested that relations with those other countries that will be involved in this investigation are good on the part of the egyptians, and that will be important, won't it, because this will be a very difficult investigation, against the backdrop, of very difficult times for egypt, and some will suggest the hard-line attitude the president has taken against terrorism and enhancing security will be vindicated to a certain extent by an event like this, but let's talk about that investigation and how it might go from here on in as we continue to hear this is an official search and rescue operation, because this flight came down within what is effectively known as the field of information, information

regional, the fir, the egyptian part of the airspace as it were, this is, as the greeks point out this morning, an investigation to be led by the egyptians, and the lead being taken, we understand by the military. meantime, we do know, and i think this is significant, but correct me if i'm wrong, that the chief prosecutor in egypt has referred the case or investigation to the state security prosecutor. that suggests, doesn't it, that they are intent, at this point in taking a route, it seems that this is a criminal investigation, which, again, alludes to their thoughts that this is likely to be terror-related. >> that could very well be the case, but at this stage of any sort of investigation, it's entirely natural, i think. the prosecutor for the case in that fashion. it may simply reveal their,

their recognition of it being a possibility. now having said that, they've already alluded over the past 24 hours that a likely, more likely than other options, they're being very cagey with language, of course, but a likely cause of crash is going to be a terrorist attack. they haven't used language, they haven't been any concerns, reports of claims of responsibility, and there hasn't been a ruling out of technical faults or flaws. so i think they will continue to be cagey in that regard, and also the relationship with france makes that even more delicate, i think. >> all right, thank you. it has been said later on 5:00 p.m., for "connect your world" later on in the day.

lest we forget, there were 66 people on board, french and egyptian nationals, many of whom, the relatives have gathered relatively early, and egyptair, we are outside of the airport. egyptair said it was effectively a crisis unit for them. there were medics and doctors here to help, an infrastructure set up for those relatives, clearly, very, very difficult. and the reports that we had about the atmosphere inside was that it was actually relatively calm and controlled. but frustration, really teeming over and every time there was information released over the past 24 hours, for that only to be rolled back on. i guess these discrepancies, as far as debris and things are concerned, only to a certain extent, george helped the relatives believe that there might just be a ray of hope, because as we've been reporting, this is still an official search

and rescue operation going on. back to you. >> at this point, so early in the investigation, and these families wanting any information that they can get, because there are just so many unanswered questions at this point. becky, thank you for being with us, and stand by, we'll be back with you. >> yes, it reminds you of mh 370, and if you're thinking about that, the answers do not come fast and furious when a plane goes missing. >> yeah, you just have to, your heart goes out to these families. >> yeah. they're in a no man's land right now of grief. airport security is in focus yet again after the loss of the egyptair flight. coming up, why concerns have been raised at both egyptian and french airports.

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paris to cairo. 66 people were on board that flight. egypt's aviation minister says it might have been terrorism, but the french foreign minister down-played that theory, saying all possibilities should be considered. >> u.s. officials tell cnn their initial theory is that a bomb took down the flight, but they have no smoking gun. >> that's right, cnn's tom foreman has more on why analysts are looking at that theory and what else could be responsible. >> here's what we know about this plane. we know it took off from paris, should have been a four-hour flight over here to egypt and for at least two and a half hours, everything seemed to have been perfectly normal before there was a wild gyration or dramatic event and the plane disappeared shortly after it entered egyptian airspace. so what could make a big plane like this simply disappear from the sky like that? well, there are several candidates we look at in every case like this.

first is the weather, can the weather bring down a big plane? absolutely. it's happened before. is it likely in this case? no. because there were no weather events in the area at this time. let's push that to the back. what about structural damage? there have been instances of tails cracking and wings falling off and engines failing, but this plane had just been maintenanced. there were no problems. could it happen? i guess, yeah. but there's no mayday call. it doesn't look so positive that that would be a likely candidate. that's why they're looking so hard at the idea of a deliberate act. the idea that maybe somebody on the ground got to the plane or maybe somebody on board the plane could have been involved. remember, it wasn't full, but there were two people up here in the cabin and five people back here servicing the passengers. three security people and the passengers themselves. that's a lot of people on board this plane, any one of whom

might have done something, even inadvertently, if they were handed a package, for example, this is why they're looking so much at the idea of a deliberate act, because the other possibilities, while they must be investigated, right now just don't seem to be offering many clues. >> tom foreman laying it out there for us. and for more context, let's bring in a terrorism expert and the international security director of the asia-pacific foundation. it's good to have you with us. the thing we keep hearing from aviation experts is that at 37,000 feet, you just don't see a plane fall out of the sky for no reason. so either mechanical, they say, or terrorism. egypt believes it may be terrorism, as do some u.s. officials. so looking at that theory, talk to us about where this investigation goes if indeed terrorism is at fault here. >> well, george, we have to

stress that if this is terrorism, of course there are other potentials. but certainly, there is a lot of concern that it could be a terrorist attack. we know that terrorist groups like isis and al qaeda as well as their affiliates have an obsession with targeting the aviation industry. it's only been seven months since the metrojet plane, the russian airliner bombed over the sinai leaving sharm el sheikh in egypt. we know that groups in the al qaeda magazine boasted an explosive device that can bypass airport detection. so there are all these different factors involved. and what's really worrying everybody is that if this is terrorism, then you're potentially looking at collusion at an airport in the west, in a european country, in paris itself, the charles de gaulle airport. this is not somewhere in the developing world where security is lax, minimal or nonexistent.

so if it's raises a lot of worrying questions. >> i want to delve deeper in that. you talk about the situation at charles de gaulle airport. if that is indeed the case. if security is an issue, talk to us about the different layers that investigators will have to look in from the captain, from the crew members, to the people who might have had access to that plane on the ground. >> well, memories are still fresh following not just the paris attacks last year but more recently the brussels attacks. and we know that the actors in both incidents were connected. the network in france is very strong. there has been concern over the last few months that even though the paris/brussels cell is

dismanldi dismantled, there are others sympathetic. and there is concern there could be potential collusion. last year they withdrew the security credentials of people working outside of paris airport. there's another element we need to pay attention to, and that's historic relevance. this marks the 100 year agreement where britain and france agree to dismantle the ottoman caliphate. and british authorities for the last few months were very concerned of an act of terrorism taking place this week. and i think that is also why a lot of people are concerned that this could be terrorism. >> and just important to stress, and point out to our viewers, french officials making the case that they haven't ruled anything out at this point, but egyptian officials and some u.s. officials believe that terrorism may have been involved,

certainly an angle we'll continue to look into. saijan gohel, thank you for your insight. we will have a look at past terror attacks on planes as newsroom continues. if you have allergy congestion, muddling through your morning is nothing new. ...your nose is the only thing on your mind... ...and to get relief, anything is fair game. introducing rhinocort® allergy spray from the makers of zyrtec®. powerful relief from your most frustrating nasal allergy symptom* ,all day and all night. hasn't your nose been through enough already? try new rhinocort® allergy spray. muddle no more® "w"well you don't want to live with mom and dad forever, do you?" "she says...bazang!" "ok, good one." "uh, how do i check my credit score?" "credit karma, it's free." "credit karma. give yourself some credit."

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welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. we continue to follow the breaking news here on cnn, the search for missing egyptair flight 860. i'm george howell. >> and we're coming to you live, it's 3:32 a.m. eastern time.

it's about 9:30 in the morning in egypt. let's get you caught up on the breaking news. crews desperately searching the mediterranean for flight 804. the airline says debris found earlier did not come from the airbus a-320. >> at this point, a terror attack has not been ruled out, but so far officials say they have not found any of the 56 passengers on terror watch lists. >> egypt was criticized last year for lax security at its sharm el sheikh airport after the downing of a metrojet flight over the sinai peninsula. isis claimed responsibility then. and last august, dozens were under investigation for links to extremism at charles de gaulle airport. some even had access to the tarmac and aircraft. let's bring back cnn's becky anderson at the cairo international airport and our max foster at charles de gaulle

airport in paris. and max, let's start with you. to that point that i just spoke about, there being some perhaps people working at the charles de gaulle airport who could have been suspicious. whatever came of that investigation? do we know? >> reporter: yeah, that was after the paris attacks of november, and 70 people had their air side clearance passes taken away. they weren't allowed to go air side anymore, there was a search of lockers and background checks to various people working at the airport. that really shows the level of security that you're dealing with here. there have been commentators on the local media saying what's most frightening about this is the very idea that this airport, the very top levels of security can be compromised or, you know, this talk of it at least, because that, you know, if this is, you know, one of the most secure western airports in the world, really, then other

airports could be compromised as well. but we have to emphasize of course we don't know if this is terror related. we don't know if a device was on the plane here at charles de gaulle as it sat on the tarmac. the plane had traveled to other countries, tunisia, eritrea, before it had come here. but all the passengers came off, a new set of passengers came on. so very much the focus of who made any sort of contact with this aircraft here, ground crew, aircrew, passengers. they're all having their backgrounds checked out and intelligence is being shared with the u.s. and egypt as well. it is a line of investigation. it's not the only line of investigation, but certainly, everyone here is talking about whether or not the plane was sabotaged whilst it was here at charles de gaulle. >> so we know there were security officers on this plane, i'm curious, do we know how long the plane was on the ground there in paris?

and i know we're now looking at all kinds of possibilities, not just terrorism, but do we know if egyptian airplanes have secure cockpits, like we saw u.s. airplanes after 9/11? >> reporter: well, regulations suggest that they should be. but there's been lots of talk about the fact that there have, you know, since 9/11, there has been some slacking on those rules, but we can't talk about specific cases in relation to egyptair. we haven't been confirmed. but lots of questions being asked around all of this. in terms of where the investigation is, the terror-related part of the investigation here in france. we're just not getting any information, and we wouldn't expect to anyway, because they're very secretive in the early stages of the investigation anyway as they follow up any leads. so we're waiting on any announcements from the prosecutor's office or the government and those official bodies.

>> we understand why they are taking their time until they are absolutely certain of facts of this airplane and the flight. thank you so much, max foster for us. >> let's go live now to cairo's international airport where our becky anderson is live. becky, good to have you. egypt is obviously taking the lead in this investigation. what can you tell us at this point about the search for this plane? >> reporter: that's right, they are taking a lead. the egyptian military taking a lead, supported by, i have to say, a number of other countries, not least, the greeks, the french, the british, and help from cyprus and from c be in a position to help out in this part of the world. we have had a significant development this morning so far as the search and rescue is concerned. it is still, george, officially, a search and rescue, which must certainly make the relatives of those 66 people on board feel

there is a glimmer of hope still. the greek authorities have said in the past couple of hours that they have pulled the frigate that was involved in this search away from the area, and they say the coast guard is no longer involved, the greek coast guard, because this is too far. it reaches too far away from their sort of their realm. it is 230-odd kilometers from crete. the greeks do say there is an aircraft, a c-130 involved from greece, and they have other aircraft in crete ready to help out. but as you rightly point out, this is an egyptian-led effort. this is within what's known as the egyptian f.i.r., the field of information region, which effectively means that this flight was in over egyptian airspace when it disappeared off

the radar at between 2:39 and 2:37 a.m. local time yesterday morning. a lot of discrepancy on the details as you're aware and much confusion and more questions than answers, really, about egypt's air flight 804 that disappeared en route from paris to cairo on thursday. what we do know is that the president here, president el sisi has demanded an intensification of the search and rescue. he has put assets from the civil aviatio aviation, from the navy and from the air force on that, looking for anything that they can find out, which would help so far as clues are concerned as far as what happened when this plane disappeared, george? >> and still very early, but egyptian authorities saying that terrorism may be to blame in this. but again, we're hearing from the french foreign minister that they are not ruling out anything at this point. becky anderson live for us in cairo. thank you for your reporting, and we'll stay in touch.

>> our breaking news coverage of the search for egyptair flight 804 continues from paris and cairo after this short break. you're watching cnn. we're live in atlanta.

the disappearance of egyptair 804 remains a mystery as this second day of searching is under way. crews are combing the mediterranean where it is presumed to have crashed. a short time ago, greece announced it was pulling its ships back from the search area, but it is still offering air support in search. >> france's foreign minister says all possibilities for the flight's disappearance are being

examined, including the possibility of terrorism. >> planes have long been the target of terrorism, we can only speculate about the fate of flight 804. >> but terrorists have gotten creative in bringing down aircraft. randi kaye has this report for us. >> reporter: december, three months after the 9/11 attacks. a flight suddenly in trouble. passenger richard reed was attempting to detonate a plastic explosive he concealed inside his shoes. passengers pounced, and the flight headed from paris to miami was safely escorted by fighter jets to boston's logan airport. he is a british citizen who converted to islam. he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. >> he is on a mission engaged in acts of international terrorism

that were motivated by his hate of the united states. >> reporter: nearly five years later in august 2006, 24 men were awrested by british authorities, charged with plotting to blow up as many as 10 flights over the atlantic simultaneously. their weapon of choice? explosive liquid smuggled aboard soda bottles. after that, liquids were limited. airlines were also facing tighter security. shoes had to be removed, box cutters and lighters were forbidd forbidden, but the terrorists were getting more creative. christmas day 2009, another failed attempt using the deadly explosive petn. northwest airlines was on its way from amsterdam to detroit when a passenger tried to set off explosives sewn into his underwear. he was sentenced to life in

prison. turns out he'd been in contact with anwar al awlaki. a suspect tries again to use pten as a bomb on two cargo planes bound for chicago. they were disguised as ink cartridges, discovered after a tip. this is a recreation of what could have happened. [ explosion ] the prime suspect was a saudi bomb maker, believed to be a member of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. sydney alford is a bomb expert. >> this is an ingenious way of doing that. if it was part of the fuselage, heaven help the plane. >> reporter: whoever built that bomb, thought it would make it

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welcome back. our top story, a massive search under way in the mediterranean sea for missing egyptair flight 804. >> the airline says debris found earlier did not come from the plane. air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane as it flew from paris to cairo with 66 people on board. >> egypt's aviation minister says it is possible a terror attack might have brought that plane down. u.s. officials also tell cnn a bomb may be responsible for what happened. >> we'll have more on the egyptair flight in a moment, but right now we're going to turn to the political news of the day. cnn's exclusive interview with candidate hillary clinton. >> the democratic front runner weighed in on this airline disaster, on terrorism and her increasing focus on republican rival donald trump. cnn senior washington correspondent, jeff zeleny has this report for us. >> it does appear that it was an

act of terrorism. >> reporter: hillary clinton says the loss of egyptair flight 804 is a stark reminder of dire consequences of this presidential campaign. >> once again, shines a very bright light on the threats that we face from organized terror groups and reenforces the need for american leadership, for the kind of smart, steady leadership that only america can provide. >> reporter: sitting down today with cnn's chris cuomo, clinton's saying in no uncertain terms that donald trump is not fit for the job. >> do you think that donald trump is qualified for the presidency. >> no, i do not. >> reporter: saying explicitly for the first time he is unqualified. >> i know how hard this job is. and i know that we need steadiness as we as strength and smarts in it. and i have concluded he is not qualified to be president of the united states. >> reporter: hours earlier, well before intelligence officials

weighed in, trump also said the egypt airliner was a terrorist attack, writing on twitter, when will we get tough, smart and vigilant, great hate and sickness. but clinton says trump's sharp rhetoric is making america's fight against terror even harder. >> when you run for president of the united states, the entire world is listening and watching. so when you say we're going to bar all muslims, you are sending a message to the muslim world and to the terrorists. >> reporter: visiting her hometown of park ridge, illinois, she made clear she has one rival in the presidential race, not two. she said her competition with bernie sanders is over. >> i will be the nominee for my party, chris. that is, that is already done in effect. there is no way that i won't be. senator sanders and i are following the same rules. and i'm 3 million votes ahead of him. and i have an insurmountable lied in pledged delegates. >> reporter: she says she's confident the party will unite,

despite sanders' pledge to fight all the way to the convention in july. >> i am absolutely committed to doing my part, more than my part, but senator sanders has to do his part. that's why the lesson of 2008, which was a hard-fought primary, as you remember, is so pertinent here, because i did my part. but so did senator obama. >> reporter: sanders supporters have made their view of clinton clear, in rhetoric far hotter than eight years ago. after the primary contests end in june, clinton says she believes trump will help bring democrats together. >> the threat that donald trump poses is so dramatic to our country, to our democracy and our economy that i certainly expect senator sanders to do what he said he would. >> reporter: until then, clinton says she's focussing exclusively on trump but insists she won't respond to everything he throws her way. >> you pick a fight with, you know, a bully, you know, you're

going to be pulled down to their level. >> reporter: and trump stayed true to his custom of firing back quickly at an adversary. >> speaking in new jersey, the presumptive nominee said clinton isn't fit to occupy the oval office. >> bernie sanders said that hillary really isn't, essentially not fit to be president. she's not qualified to be president. you know why? he said because she suffers from bad judgment. but, if you think about it, and if you look at it, he said unqualified, and he said that she suffers from bad judgment. and she does. >> donald trump there on the campaign trail. of course we continue to follow this story, the incredibly tough time for the families of those on board the egyptair flight 804. we will hear from them when we return. ack like... ...it used to? neutrogena® hydro boost water gel. instantly quenches skin to keep it...

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welcome back. one can only imagine how difficult it must be for these families at this point. just waiting for any answers they can get on this flight 804. as crews search for the plane, some family members are gathering in cairo hoping to get answers about their loved ones. >> for some, getting the information about the flight status is a difficult process. >> greece says something and here they say something else. you don't know what's the truth. we pray to god he won't bring us bad news. we want to understand. their words should have

credibility so people are not all over the place. >> we are confused. we don't know the truth. some tell us it fell in the sea. some say it is in the air. some say it didn't fall. some say the black box is communicating signals. where's the truth? it's with god. we don't know anything. >> you have been watching cnn live from atlanta. i'm natalie allen. >> i'm george howell. "early start" continues now with christine romans and john berman live from new york. breaking news. investigators working to unravel the mystery of what happened to egyptair flight 804 and the 66 people on board. the plane vanishing more than 24 hours ago. our live team coverage begins now. i'm boris sanchez. >> i'm christine romans. it is friday, may0t