Egypt’s civil aviation ministry confirms it will launch criminal investigation into May crash of flight MS804 that killed 66

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.



France’s air safety agency, BEA, and the plane manufacturer, Airbus, both declined to comment on the announcement, which comes while Cairo is still investigating the October 2015 crash of the Russian passenger plane in Sinai.

If a bomb is established as the cause of the May crash, investigators will have to determine whether a device could have been smuggled onboard a flight taking off from France’s busiest airport, Paris Charles de Gaulle. The plane had also visited Tunisia and Eritrea in the days before it went down.

Coming just months after the Russian plane crashed, the EgyptAir disaster led to widespread flight cancellations and dealt a major blow to Egypt’s vital tourism sector, already weakened by years of unrest unleashed by the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

In recent months Egypt has spent millions of dollars trying to restore international confidence in its airport security measures. Russia suspended all flights to the country after the October crash, while Britain cancelled flights to Sharm El-Sheikh, the Red Sea resort from which the airliner took off.

The EgyptAir plane had been flying from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean. Investigators determined that a fire had broken out in or near the cockpit before it crashed between Crete and the coast of northern Egypt.



The word “fire” was audible on the plane’s cockpit voice recorder shortly before it crashed, the Egyptian investigative committee said in July.

The black box, retrieved from the crash site by a specialist diving vessel, also confirmed that smoke alarms had been triggered onboard, while recovered wreckage had indications of soot.

The Airbus A320 had broadcast a number of fault messages before contact was lost, indicating that smoke had entered the nose of the aircraft where sensitive avionics control systems are housed. Flight data, however, suggested that rather than exploding in mid-air, the plane had flown into the sea.

Egyptian investigators have confirmed the aircraft made a 90-degree left turn followed by a 360-degree turn to the right before hitting the sea.

Since the crash, small pieces of the wreckage and human remains have been recovered, while the bulk of the plane and the bodies of victims are believed to be in the water.

In September, French investigators were reported to have found trace levels of the explosive TNT on recovered debris but claimed they were prevented from further examining it. Egyptian officials denied the claim.

While some speculation had originally focused on the crew being overcome in the cockpit as the cause of the disaster, the new evidence has put the emphasis back on a deliberate explosion.

Egypt’s aviation minister, Sherif Fathy, had said previously a terrorist attack was the most likely cause of the crash. The chances of an attack were “higher than the possibility of a technical [failure]”, Fathy said in May following the crash.

However, two anonymous western sources briefed on the latest turn in the investigation expressed reservations to Reuters about the explosives findings and suggested a technical problem remained a likely cause. Aviation experts have said there is little chance that a mechanical fault was responsible.

The latest announcement came as it was disclosed that the families of five French victims had launched a petition to recover the remains of those lost on the flight, saying it had been seven months since they had been killed. The Egyptian authorities had promised to return the bodies weeks ago but the process had inexplicably halted, perhaps because of the discovery of the explosive residue.

Isis has carried out several attacks in recent years, mainly in Sinai, where it is based, but also on the Egyptian mainland. The group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Cairo church on Sunday, which killed at least 24 people – mainly women – and wounded nearly 50.