Sissi says Egypt submarine headed to plane crash site

Egypt’s president says a submarine belonging to his country’s Oil Ministry is headed to the site of the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804 in the eastern Mediterranean to join the search for the cockpit voice and flight data recorders, commonly known as black boxes.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi also says Egypt is jointly investigating the Thursday crash with the French government. “It is very, very important to us to establish the circumstances that led to the crash of that aircraft,” he says in comments broadcast live on Egyptian TV channels.

He says the submarine, which has the capacity to operate at a depth of 3,000 meters (9,842 feet) below the surface, left for the site Sunday. He gives no further details.

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)

— AP