Evidence indicates an explosion brought down EgyptAir flight
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Evidence retrieved from the Mediterranean from the crashed EgyptAir flight indicates that there may have been an explosion on board though Egyptian officials are playing down such reports.
An Egyptian forensic official said that the size of the body parts found in the past few days, the largest no bigger than the size of a hand, indicates that there may have been an explosion on board the plane.
“The logical explanation is that an explosion brought it down,” the official, who personally examined the evidence, told Associated Press anonymously as he was not authorized to speak on the matter. “There isn’t even a whole body part, like an arm or a head.”
“But I cannot say what caused the blast,” he added.
Twenty-three bags of body parts have been recovered since Sunday. No trace of explosives has been found as of yet.
Hisham Abdelhamid, head of the Egyptian forensics body, said the conclusion that there was an explosion was “mere assumption” and that it was too early to determine the cause of the crash.
Family members of the victims have provided DNA samples to Cairo’s forensic department to aid in identifying the remains of their relatives.
The EgyptAir flight, carrying 66 passengers and crew, vanished from radar on Thursday as it crossed from Greek to Egyptian air space on a Paris to Cairo route.
The plane transmitted warning signals of smoke on board in the minutes before it disappeared, which French investigators say could have been because of a fire or a computer fault.
Greek and Egyptian officials have given different versions of the plane’s last moments. Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said that their radar had picked up the plane swerving sharply as it lost altitude, turning 90 degrees left and then 360 degrees right.
Head of Egypt’s air navigation services, Ehab Mohieldin Azmi, denied that the plane made such maneuvers asserting that the plane maintained its altitude before disappearing.
Fragments of the plane and personal belongings of the passengers have been found but the black box recorders have not yet been located.
Egypt has deployed a robot submarine to join ships and planes from Britain, Cyprus, France, Greece, and the US, all taking part in the search.
An Egyptian forensic official said that the size of the body parts found in the past few days, the largest no bigger than the size of a hand, indicates that there may have been an explosion on board the plane.
“The logical explanation is that an explosion brought it down,” the official, who personally examined the evidence, told Associated Press anonymously as he was not authorized to speak on the matter. “There isn’t even a whole body part, like an arm or a head.”
“But I cannot say what caused the blast,” he added.
Twenty-three bags of body parts have been recovered since Sunday. No trace of explosives has been found as of yet.
Hisham Abdelhamid, head of the Egyptian forensics body, said the conclusion that there was an explosion was “mere assumption” and that it was too early to determine the cause of the crash.
Family members of the victims have provided DNA samples to Cairo’s forensic department to aid in identifying the remains of their relatives.
The EgyptAir flight, carrying 66 passengers and crew, vanished from radar on Thursday as it crossed from Greek to Egyptian air space on a Paris to Cairo route.
The plane transmitted warning signals of smoke on board in the minutes before it disappeared, which French investigators say could have been because of a fire or a computer fault.
Greek and Egyptian officials have given different versions of the plane’s last moments. Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said that their radar had picked up the plane swerving sharply as it lost altitude, turning 90 degrees left and then 360 degrees right.
Head of Egypt’s air navigation services, Ehab Mohieldin Azmi, denied that the plane made such maneuvers asserting that the plane maintained its altitude before disappearing.
Fragments of the plane and personal belongings of the passengers have been found but the black box recorders have not yet been located.
Egypt has deployed a robot submarine to join ships and planes from Britain, Cyprus, France, Greece, and the US, all taking part in the search.