Authorities reveal traces of explosives found on EgyptAir crash victims

Egypt’s civil aviation investigation committee is now suggesting that the EgyptAir A320 which crashed into the Mediterranean Sea while flying from Paris to Cairo in May, was likely downed as a result of an onboard bomb. It has been reported that Egyptian air accident investigators have discovered traces of explosive on the remains of victims.
According to a ministry statement released on December 15, “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.”
It is understood that the discovery was reported to French authorities back in July, but had not been publicly released owing to a number of disagreements between Egyptian and French experts, along with a dispute over repatriation of the 15 French victims’ bodies. According to a source who is familiar with the situation, they have indicated that Cairo had informed France several months ago of the findings, but delays had resulted from French investigators requesting more time to study the results.
As a result of this latest announcement, Egypt will now be launching a criminal investigation into the crash. On the basis a bomb is confirmed as the reason for the crash, investigators will have to establish whether a device could have been smuggled onboard a flight taking off from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. It is known that the plane had also visited Tunisia and Eritrea in the days before it went down.
The black box which was successfully recovered from the crash site confirmed that smoke alarms had been triggered onboard, and recovered wreckage had indications of soot deposits. The Airbus A320 had broadcast a number of fault messages prior to contact being lost, indicating that smoke had entered the nose of the aircraft which housed sensitive avionics control systems. However, flight data has suggested that as opposed to exploding in mid-air, the plane had flown into the sea.