EgyptAir 'cabin parts' found in Mediterranean

Pieces of the plane's cabin were found by French investigators at "several sites" amid a wide-scale search to locate the aircraft, the Egyptian board of inquiry said in a statement.

The French research vessel John Lethbridge, which boasts an underwater robot onboard, made the discovery after arriving in Egypt last week to join the search for the wreckage.

On Monday, investigators warned signals from the plane's black box would stop emitting by the end of the month, increasing concerns among the search party and relatives of the victims.

The Airbus A320 departed from Paris on May 19 and went missing before reaching Cairo with 66 people on board.

Since the plane disappeared from radar, 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, however no solid cause has been confirmed by authorities.

Thirty Egyptians, 15 French citizens, two Iraqis, two Canadians, and citizens from Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Chad, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sudan were onboard the flight.