Traces of explosives have been found on the bodies of some of the victims recovered from the EgyptAir plane that crashed last May.

Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry said in a statement that a criminal inquiry would now begin into the crash of Flight 804.

The Airbus A320 plunged into the eastern Mediterranean en route from Paris to Cairo on 19 May, killing all 66 people on board.

Investigators have established a fire broke out in or near the cockpit just before the jet came down between Crete and the coast of northern Egypt.

Sherif Fathy, the country's aviation minister, has said a terrorist attack was the most likely cause.


French investigators said just hours later, however, that it was not possible to draw conclusions on what might have caused the crash.

A spokeswoman for the French BEA said in a statement: "In the absence of detailed information on the conditions and ways in which samples were taken leading to the detection of traces of explosives, the BEA considers that it is not possible at this stage to draw conclusions on the origin of the accident."

The tragedy happened seven months after a Russian airliner crashed in the Sinai Peninsula shortly after taking off from an Egyptian Red Sea resort.

The local affiliate of Islamic State said it had planted a bomb on board and Russia later confirmed there had been an explosion.

There were no survivors among the plane's 226 passengers and crew.