The Portuguese citizen who was aboard the EgyptAir flight that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea yesterday (May 19) has been identified as João David e Silva, a 62-year-old civil engineer who worked for construction group Mota-Engil in South Africa.
David e Silva was married and had four children – three from his first marriage and another from his current marriage, according to national tabloid Correio da Manhã.
He was currently living in Johannesburg, South Africa but had apparently worked in several other African and South American countries, such as Mozambique and Peru.
CM adds that David e Silva boarded the MS804 flight while on his way to the capital of Ghana, Accra, for a business meeting.
According to the paper, he was the boss of Mota-Engil in Africa and had been working for the construction group since 1984.
José Luís Carneiro, Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, has already expressed his condolences to David e Silva’s family.
He added that his office is in talks with other entities in France and Egypt to provide “all the support that is necessary” to the victim’s family.
João David e Silva was among the 66 passengers feared dead after the EgyptAir flight MS804 crashed into the Mediterranean Sea yesterday.
Also among the likely victims are 30 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, and a passenger each from the UK, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Chad, Algeria and Canada.
The plane took off from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport at 11.09pm on Wednesday and went missing at 2.45am on route to Cairo International.
A terror attack has been named “the most likely cause” for the crash.
At the time of writing, international media was reporting that Egyptian search teams had found debris from the missing plane and were now looking for the aircraft’s black box to discover exactly what happened.
