Traces of explosives have been detected on remains of victims of an EgyptAir plane crash last May that killed all 66 people on board, the aviation ministry announced Thursday.

An official investigative committee which made the discovery has referred the case to&nbsp;Egypt&#39;s state prosecution, it added in a statement.

Under Egyptian law, the prosecution takes over &quot;if it becomes clear to the investigative committee that there is criminal suspicion behind the accident&quot;, the ministry said.

French investigators have said that they had found trace levels of the explosive material TNT on the plane&#39;s debris but were prevented from further examining it, according to a report in the Paris daily Le Figaro.

EgyptAir MS804 was en route from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean.

Investigators determined that a fire broke out in or near the cockpit of the Airbus A320 before it crashed between Crete and the coast of northern&nbsp;Egypt. An earlier analysis of the plane&#39;s flight data recorder showed there had been smoke in the lavatory and avionics bay.

Among the 66 people on board were 40 Egyptians, including the 10-member crew, and 15 French nationals.

Egypt&#39;s aviation minister had said a terrorist attack was the most likely cause of the crash.

(AFP and Reuters)

An official investigative committee which made the discovery has referred the case to?Egypt's state prosecution

Traces of explosives have been detected on remains of victims of an EgyptAir plane crash last May that killed all 66 people on board, the aviation ministry announced Thursday. An official investigative committee which made the discovery has referred the case to Egypt's state prosecution, it added in a statement. Under Egyptian law, the prosecution takes over "if it becomes clear to the investigative committee that there is criminal suspicion behind the accident", the ministry said. French investigators have said that they had found trace levels of the explosive material TNT on the plane's debris but were prevented from further examining it, according to a report in the Paris daily Le Figaro. EgyptAir MS804 was en route from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean. Investigators determined that a fire broke out in or near the cockpit of the Airbus A320 before it crashed between Crete and the coast of northern Egypt. An earlier analysis of the plane's flight data recorder showed there had been smoke in the lavatory and avionics bay. Among the 66 people on board were 40 Egyptians, including the 10-member crew, and 15 French nationals. Egypt's aviation minister had said a terrorist attack was the most likely cause of the crash. (AFP and Reuters)

Explosive traces found on remains in EgyptAir MS804 crash

Search teams have recovered more human remains from the EgyptAir plane that crashed into the Mediterranean in May, the Egyptian-led investigative committee said on Sunday. 
 
The search vessel John Lethbridge &quot;retrieved all the human remains that were mapped at the crash location&quot;, the Egyptian aircraft accident investigation committee said in a statement. 
 
After delivering the remains in Alexandria, the vessel will return to the crash location &quot;to conduct a new thorough scan of the seabed and to search for any human remains,&quot; the committee said. 
 
The Airbus A320 plunged into the sea on May 19, while heading to Cairo from Paris, killing all 66 on board. 
 
Egyptian and French forensic doctors onboard the search vessel supervised the retrieval process, the committee said. 
 
The recovered remains will be examined by prosecutors and forensic specialists in Alexandria before being sent on to Cairo for DNA analysis. 
 
A committee probing the plane disaster said on Saturday that the memory chips of EgyptAir 804&#39;s black box voice recorder are intact and investigators should be able to access them. 
 
The other black box, a data recorder that had also been retrieved from the bottom of the Mediterranean, has already been accessed. 
 
Investigators said last week that the plane&#39;s wreckage showed signs of fire while the data recorder confirmed smoke alarms had been activated. 
 
The plane was carrying 40 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, two Canadians and one passenger each from Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Chad, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. 
 
(AFP)

The search vessel, John Lethbridge, recovered all the human remains that were mapped at the crash location

Search teams have recovered more human remains from the EgyptAir plane that crashed into the Mediterranean in May, the Egyptian-led investigative committee said on Sunday. The search vessel John Lethbridge "retrieved all the human remains that were mapped at the crash location", the Egyptian aircraft accident investigation committee said in a statement. After delivering the remains in Alexandria, the vessel will return to the crash location "to conduct a new thorough scan of the seabed and to search for any human remains," the committee said. The Airbus A320 plunged into the sea on May 19, while heading to Cairo from Paris, killing all 66 on board. Egyptian and French forensic doctors onboard the search vessel supervised the retrieval process, the committee said. The recovered remains will be examined by prosecutors and forensic specialists in Alexandria before being sent on to Cairo for DNA analysis. A committee probing the plane disaster said on Saturday that the memory chips of EgyptAir 804's black box voice recorder are intact and investigators should be able to access them. The other black box, a data recorder that had also been retrieved from the bottom of the Mediterranean, has already been accessed. Investigators said last week that the plane's wreckage showed signs of fire while the data recorder confirmed smoke alarms had been activated. The plane was carrying 40 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, two Canadians and one passenger each from Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Chad, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. (AFP)

More EgyptAir crash remains recovered from Mediterranean

Data from one of the black boxes of a crashed EgyptAir plane showed smoke alarms had sounded on board, while soot was found on the wreckage, an Egyptian-led investigative committee said today. 
 
The black box had been retrieved from the bottom of the Mediterranean after the Airbus A320 with 66 people on board plunged into the sea on May 19 while heading to Cairo from Paris.&nbsp; 
 
It had recorded the flight&#39;s data from its departure until it &quot;stopped at an altitude of 37,000 feet (11,250 metres),&quot; the committee said in a statement. 
 
&quot;Recorded data is showing a consistency with Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages of lavatory smoke and avionics smoke,&quot; it said, two days after the damaged recorder was repaired in France. 
 
Investigators had previously announced that the plane&#39;s automated ACARS sent signals indicating smoke alarms on board the plane before it went down. 
 
&quot;Parts of the front section of the aircraft showed signs of high temperature damage and soot,&quot; the committee statement added. 
 
Egyptian investigators had confirmed that the aircraft had made a 90-degree left turn followed by a 360-degree turn to the right before hitting the sea. 
 
The plane was carrying 40 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, two Canadians and one passenger each from Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Chad, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan. 
 
The repair work of the cockpit voice recorder, the second black box, was underway at the France&#39;s Bureau d&#39;Enqu?tes et d&#39;Analyses pour la s?curit? de l&#39;aviation civile (BEA) air safety agency. 
 
The device had been found broken into pieces but salvage experts managed to retrieve the recorder&#39;s memory unit, Egypt&#39;s civil aviation ministry had said. 
 
The committee statement said the search remained for the remains of the passengers and crew. 
 
It &quot;will continue till the full recovery of all the remains at the crash location,&quot; it said. 
 
Both Egyptian and French judiciary have opened investigations into the mysterious incident, without ruling out that it had been deliberately downed. 
 
The crash follows the bombing of a Russian passenger over Egypt&#39;s restive Sinai Peninsula last October, killing all 224 passengers and crew. 
 
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack, but there has been no such claim linked to the EgyptAir crash, and the group usually swiftly claims responsibility for large scale attacks. 
 
Egypt&#39;s aviation minister had initially said an attack was the more likely explanation, but President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said there was no theory being favoured yet. 
 
EgyptAir said last week advance compensation payments of $25,000 will be offered to families of the 66 people killed in the crash. 
 
The payments are separate to those expected from insurance companies on behalf of various parties depending on the investigation into the disaster. 
 
(AFP)

Data from one of the blackboxes of EgyptAir Airbus A320 revealed that parts of the front section showed signs of high temperature and soot

Data from one of the black boxes of a crashed EgyptAir plane showed smoke alarms had sounded on board, while soot was found on the wreckage, an Egyptian-led investigative committee said today. The black box had been retrieved from the bottom of the Mediterranean after the Airbus A320 with 66 people on board plunged into the sea on May 19 while heading to Cairo from Paris. It had recorded the flight's data from its departure until it "stopped at an altitude of 37,000 feet (11,250 metres)," the committee said in a statement. "Recorded data is showing a consistency with Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages of lavatory smoke and avionics smoke," it said, two days after the damaged recorder was repaired in France. Investigators had previously announced that the plane's automated ACARS sent signals indicating smoke alarms on board the plane before it went down. "Parts of the front section of the aircraft showed signs of high temperature damage and soot," the committee statement added. Egyptian investigators had confirmed that the aircraft had made a 90-degree left turn followed by a 360-degree turn to the right before hitting the sea. The plane was carrying 40 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, two Canadians and one passenger each from Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Chad, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan. The repair work of the cockpit voice recorder, the second black box, was underway at the France's Bureau d'Enqu?tes et d'Analyses pour la s?curit? de l'aviation civile (BEA) air safety agency. The device had been found broken into pieces but salvage experts managed to retrieve the recorder's memory unit, Egypt's civil aviation ministry had said. The committee statement said the search remained for the remains of the passengers and crew. It "will continue till the full recovery of all the remains at the crash location," it said. Both Egyptian and French judiciary have opened investigations into the mysterious incident, without ruling out that it had been deliberately downed. The crash follows the bombing of a Russian passenger over Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula last October, killing all 224 passengers and crew. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack, but there has been no such claim linked to the EgyptAir crash, and the group usually swiftly claims responsibility for large scale attacks. Egypt's aviation minister had initially said an attack was the more likely explanation, but President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said there was no theory being favoured yet. EgyptAir said last week advance compensation payments of $25,000 will be offered to families of the 66 people killed in the crash. The payments are separate to those expected from insurance companies on behalf of various parties depending on the investigation into the disaster. (AFP)

EgyptAir black box confirms smoke on board: probe