Black box intensifies after EgyptAir debris found

A relative of a passenger who was flying aboard an EgyptAir plane that vanished from radar en route from Paris to Cairo overnight cries as family members are transported by bus to a gathering point at Cairo airport on May 19, 2016.(Photo: Khaled Desouki, AFP/Getty Images)

There also were smoke alerts near the cockpit, CNN reported, crediting that news to a source also interpreting the communications and reporting system.

A French Navy patrol boat left the port of Toulon on Friday with sonar that can pick up the underwater “pings” emitted by the recording devices, but it will take the vessel two or three days to reach the area, the Associated Press reported. The recorders' batteries can transmit for 30 days.

The information stored on the black boxes could explain Flight 804's erratic behavior in the moments before it disappeared from radar Thursday morning.

Shortly after entering Egyptian airspace, the plane plummeted into the ocean following a sudden 90-degree turn to the left and a 360-degree spin to the right, according to Greek defense minister Panos Kammenos.

As searchers tried to pinpoint the exact location where the plane went down, the European Space Agency said a satellite normally used for monitoring the environment detected a potential oil slick in the same area where officials found debris Friday.

The Egyptian navy also retrieved some of the passengers' belongings and plane seats, the country's Civil Aviation Ministry said in a statement.