The man has been named in the national press as João David e Silva, who coordinated the company's operations in Africa, and had homes in South Africa and Lisbon.

Meanwhile debris has been found in the hunt for the missing jet.

An Egyptian army spokesman said today (Friday, 20 May) that wreckage and passenger belongings had been found 290km from the Egyptian port city of Alexandria.

Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said a body part, two seats and at least one suitcase had been found.

Mr Kammenos said the items were found slightly to the south of the area where the plane disappeared from radars on Thursday.

The discovery came as Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy said the plane was more likely to have been brought down by a "terror attack" than a technical fault.

At the same time, Greek defence minister Panos Kammenos said the aircraft was in Egyptian airspace and flying at 37,000ft when it made "sudden swerves" and plunged to 15,000ft.

He said it swerved "90 degrees left and then 360 degrees to the right" before vanishing.

Lusa News Agency reported Greek airport authorities told France Presse the airplane had crashed off the Greek island of Karpathos, in the Mediterranean Sea. Other reports stated vessels in the vicinty of the island had seen a "fireball" falling in the night sky.

Searches were launched Thursday morning (19 May) to locate flight MS804, which went missing whilst travelling from Paris to Cairo during the early hours of the morning.

Airline authorities confirmed the Portuguese national was among those onboard the Airbus A320, which early reports quoting an Egyptian civil aviation authority spokesperson said was “most likely” to have crashed somewhere over the eastern Mediterranean.

Emerging reports stated the Portuguese national was a 62-year-old man who worked in Johannesburg, South Africa.

This was put forward by a source from the State Secretary for Communities’ office, in comments to Lusa News Agency, and who said more information on the Portuguese national would be available soon.

Flight MS804 departed Charles de Gaulle airport at 11.09pm Wednesday night and according to reports disappeared from radars less than an hour before landing at Cairo International Airport.

Sixty-six people, 56 passengers, seven crew members and three security personnel, were travelling on the flight.

The majority of passengers were Egyptian and French, but among them were a Portuguese national and a Briton.

According to the BBC the airline said the passengers included “30 Egyptians, 15 French citizens, one Briton, two Iraqis, as well as people from Canada, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan, Chad and Portugal.”

The head of the airline told CNN that no distress call was made by the aircraft before it vanished in Egyptian airspace, although other repots claim a distress signal was emitted, a claim denied by the Egyptian military.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said no scenario could be ruled out at the moment.