Egypt: Time running out to retrieve doomed jet's black boxes

CAIRO - Egyptian investigators say time is running out in the search for the black boxes from EgyptAir Flight 804, that plane that crashed into the Mediterranean last month, killing all 66 people on board.

In a statement Sunday, they say that searches by ships in the area will intensify, given that only around five days remain before the batteries of the flight's data and cockpit voice recorders expire and they stop emitting signals.

The boxes could reveal whether a mechanical fault, a hijacking or a bomb caused the disaster. Finding them without the signals is possible but more difficult.

Earlier this month, a French ship picked up signals from one of the boxes. Locator pings emitted by flight data and cockpit voice recorders, known as the black boxes, can be picked up from deep underwater. It is not clear which of the two recorders was located.

Since the plane disappeared from radar en route to Cairo from Paris, only small pieces of debris and human remains have been retrieved from the crash site. No group has claimed an attack.