Debris was found 180 miles off the coast of Alexandria in Egypt and the country’s navy is continuing to search the area for the aircraft’s black box.
EgyptAir said: “The Egyptian ministry of civil aviation has just received an official letter from the Egyptian ministry of foreign affairs declaring the finding of wreckage of the missing aircraft MS804 near Karpathos Island.
“EgyptAir sincerely conveys its deepest sorrow to the families and friends of the passengers onboard.”
The news comes following an extensive search undertaken near the Greek island of Karpathos. The country’s military was helped by France and the UK in the search for the aircraft which vanished en route from Paris to Cairo in the early hours of yesterday morning.
EgyptAir had claimed to have discovered debris and life jackets belonging to MS804 near to Karpathos, east of Crete, but the claim was later withdrawn.
According to Greek aviation officials radar tracking showed the Airbus A320 made a pair of sharp turns and dropped more than 25,000ft before plunging into the sea.
"It turned 90 degrees left and then a 360-degree turn toward the right, dropping from 37,000 to 15,000 feet and then it was lost at about 10,000 feet," Greek defence minister Panos Kammenos said.
A total of 56 passengers were onboard including one Briton, named as 40-year-old Richard Osman, as well as a 10-strong crew.
What caused the plane to crash has yet to be confirmed, although Egyptian authorities have said the plane was more likely to have been brought down by a terrorist act than a technical fault.
The country’s aviation minister Sherif Fathi said: “The possibility of having a different action or a terror attack is higher than the possibility of having a technical failure.”
Despite this, no group has come forward to claim responsibility.
Security at terminals visited by MS804 has been stepped up over the last 24 hours, including Charles de Gaulle in Paris, while the aircraft also stopped at Asmara airport in Eritrea and Tunis–Carthage International in Tunisia.
