Search area for EgyptAir Flight 804 shrinks after locator signals detected

Egypt's state-run news agency announced Thursday that aircraft manufacturer Airbus had detected locator signals from EgyptAir Flight 804, which crashed May 19 in the Mediterranean Sea. While debris from the plane, an Airbus A320, has been recovered in early search operations, the craft's fuselage, flight data, and cockpit recorders have yet to be found.

The pings detected by Airbus are not coming from the plane's black boxes, which record crucial flight information, but instead from "emergency locator transmitters" that are located throughout the aircraft. One such transmitter is usually located in the tail of the aircraft, CNN notes, which is also where flight data recorders are stored; if that transmitter is the one that has been detected, that could lead investigators to recover important flight data as well.

The discovery of the signals also means the massive search area will shrink to just a 3.1-mile radius as officials try to recover the main segment of the plane. The cause of the crash is yet to be determined, though authorities have strongly suggested it was an act of terrorism.

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