Signals from EgyptAir black-box 'to stop in ten days'

The black box data recorders form the EgyptAir plane that crashed in the Mediterranean last month will stop emitting signals in ten days, according to officials.

The flight data and cockpit voice records have enough battery power to last until June 24, the Egyptian commission of inquiry said on Monday.

If found, they could reveal whether it was a mechanical fault, a bomb or a hijacking incident that caused the Airbus A320 travelling from Paris to Cairo to go down on 19 May, killing 66 people on board.

Black boxes are designed to release signals for about a month after a crash, and locating EgyptAir MS804's flight recorder from the bottom of the Mediterranean - 3,000 metres below the surface - without such signals will prove more difficult.

EgyptAir: The fate of MS804

- Search on for clues in EgyptAir crash -Egypt releases images of plane wreckage following smoke reports - Doomed EgyptAir flight had 'chaotic' last moments - Egyptian military 'finds EgyptAir wreckage' - Algerian family of four among EgyptAir disaster victims - In-depth: More pain for Egypt, more embarrassment for government  - A recent history of Middle East aviation disasters - Russian spy chief: 'Terrorists' brought down EgyptAir plane - MS804: Islamic State group 'clearly targeting France' - Blog: What causes planes to crash or go missing? - EgyptAir flight feared crashed off Greek island - EgyptAir flight 'disappears' between Paris and Cairo - In pictures: Families of missing EgyptAir passengers await news

On June 1, a French research vessel picked up signals emitted from one of the boxes and narrowed its position to within a 2km radius.

But to recover it from the sea-bed, investigators will need to pinpoint the signals to within just a few metres in order to establish whether the pingers are still connected to the recorders.

This will take at least another few days, according to investigators.

What we already know

Since the plane disappeared from radar in May, only small pieces of debris and some human remains have been retrieved from the crash site.  

Egypt initially suspected the aircraft was brought down by an attack, but it is now thought the crash may have been caused by a technical fault.

Automatic alerts sent by the Airbus indicated smoke in the cabin and a fault in the flight control unit.

The crash occurred seven months after the bombing of a Russian airliner over Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula in October, which killed all 224 people on board.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack but there has been no such claim over the EgyptAir crash.