The Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation has just issued a statement on a report by the investigation committee established following the crash of EgyptAir MS804. The investigation will continue in order to determine the exact causes of the crash.
As has been the case since that tragic accident, France and its experts remain at the disposal of the appropriate Egyptian authorities to contribute to this investigation.
France hopes that the transfer of this report to the Egyptian prosecutor-general’s office will open the way to returning the victims’ remains to their families as quickly as possible. That is the wish that the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Jean-Marc Ayrault, has expressed several times to his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry.
Egyptian air accident investigators have revealed that traces of explosives were detected on the remains of victims of the EgyptAir flight from Paris that crashed in the Mediterranean sea in May.
The claim by Egypt’s civil aviation investigation committee suggests that the crash, which killed all 66 people on board, was caused by a bomb, although it does not solve the mystery of where a device might have been smuggled on board – or who was responsible.
The disappearance of the EgyptAir flight came only months after a Russian airliner flying from Sharm el-Sheikh was brought down by a bomb over the Sinai Peninsula – killing 224 people. That attack was claimed by the local affiliate of Islamic State.
“The central directorate of aircraft accident investigation received reports from the forensic medicine authority indicating traces of explosive materials found in some of the remains of the victims’ bodies,” the ministry stated on Thursday.
The months-long investigation into the disaster has been hampered by disagreements between French and Egyptian experts and a dispute over the return of the bodies of French passengers. The Airbus A320 had been carrying 40 Egyptians, 15 French people, two Iraqis, two Canadians and one passenger each from Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Chad, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.
An Egyptian source familiar with the matter said Cairo had informed France months ago of its findings but French investigators had requested more time to study them.
“That is why it took so long to make an announcement,” the source said, declining to be named as the investigation is continuing. Following the announcement on Thursday, Egypt said it would be launching a criminal investigation into the crash.