Head of Egyptian forensics authority says claim by unnamed official is “completely false”

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The head of Egypt’s forensics authority has dismissed a suggestion that the small size of the body parts retrieved since an EgyptAir plane crashed last week indicated there had been an explosion on board.

All 66 people on board were killed when the Airbus A320 crashed in the Mediterranean early on Thursday while en route from Paris to Cairo, and an international air and naval effort to hunt for the black boxes and other wreckage continues.

On Tuesday an unnamed senior Egyptian forensics official told Associated Press that he had personally examined human remains recovered from the crash site and that they suggested there had been an explosion.

Speaking on condition of anonymity he said all 80 pieces brought to Cairo so far are small human fragments, leading him to conclude that “the logical explanation is that it was an explosion”.



He added: “There isn’t even a whole body part, like an arm or a head.”

However Egypt’s head of forensics later denounced the reports as “completely false”, state news agency Mena said.



“Everything published about this matter is completely false, and mere assumptions that did not come from the forensics authority,” Hesham Abdelhamid was quoted as saying in a statement.

Another senior forensics official told Reuters only a tiny number of remains had arrived so far and it was too early to specify whether there had been an explosion on board.

In the aftermath of the crash both the French and Egyptian leaders said that terrorism could not be ruled out, but there has been no claim of responsibility from any group.

The black box could hold clues as to why the plane crashed. Minutes earlier, smoke was detected in multiple places on board.

On Monday, the head of Egypt’s state-run provider of air navigation services, Ehab Azmy, said the plane plunged directly into the sea and challenged an account by the Greek defence minister that it made “sudden swerves” before the crash.



Azmy said radar had shown the plane was flying at its normal altitude of 37,000 feet (11,270 metres) in the minutes before it disappeared.



“That fact degrades what the Greeks are saying about the aircraft suddenly losing altitude before it vanished from radar,” he said.



“There was no turning to the right or left, and it was fine when it entered Egypt’s [flight information region], which took nearly a minute or two before it disappeared,” Azmy added.

The Greek defence minister, Panos Kammenos, said last week that the plane took a normal course through Greek airspace before abruptly taking sharp turns.

“The plane carried out a 90-degree turn to the left and a 360-degree turn to the right, falling from 37,000ft to 15,000ft and the signal was lost at around 10,000ft,” he said.

Another senior Egyptian navigation services official, Ehab Mohieeldin, meanwhile told a local broadcaster that Egyptian officials had been able to track the plane on radar for one minute before it crashed but were unable to communicate with the crew.

The same channel, CBC, was told by air accident investigator Hani Galal that the plane’s black box recorder would be analysed in Egypt if it is found intact, but would be sent abroad for analysis if it is found to be damaged.

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report