May 19, 2016

EgyptAir Official Confirms: “We Have Found the Wreckage”

Flight MS804 disappeared overnight on Thursday.

Rex Features/AP

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UPDATE, May 19, 12:56 p.m. EST: The vice president of EgyptAir confirmed that officials have recovered wreckage from the plane.

Egyptian authorities confirmed on Thursday that the EgyptAir plane that went missing overnight had crashed into the Mediterranean. Flight MS804, which took off in Paris, was carrying 66 people when it disappeared shortly after crossing into Egyptian airspace.

In a press conference Thursday, French President Francois Hollande said “no hypothesis was being ruled out” in the crash, including the possibility of terrorism. The country remains under a state of emergency that went into effect after the Paris attacks in November.

“When we have the truth, we must draw all the conclusions, whether it is an accident or another hypothesis, which everybody has in mind, the terrorist hypothesis,” Hollande said.

The Associated Press reports the last known contact with the plane was recorded about 10 minutes before it vanished, with no distress call received. The plane departed at 11:05 p.m. and was expected to land at 3:15 a.m. in Cairo, according to EgyptAir.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump weighed in on the crash on Thursday, speculating that it was likely the result of a terrorist attack.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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