Alwaght- Contradictory reports have emerged on the ill-fated EgypAir flight MS804 after an Egyptian forensic official said human remains retrieved from the crash site point to an explosion on board, a claim which was immediately dismissed by authorities.
An official who is part of the Egyptian investigative team said human remains retrieved from EgyptAir 804 crash site point to an explosion on board. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said he personally examined the remains at a Cairo morgue, news agencies reported on Tuesday.
The assessment is based on a small size of human remains found and no traces of explosives have been found yet, he said.
He said all 80 pieces brought to Cairo so far are small and that "there isn't even a whole body part, like an arm or a head." The official said that "the logical explanation is that it was an explosion." Immediately after the report, the head of Egypt’s forensics authority dismissed the 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. “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.
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 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 defense minister that it made “sudden swerves” before the crash.
Body parts, luggage and passengers' belongings have been recovered alongside wreckage from the aircraft during searches of the Mediterranean Sea.
But the location of the main body of the Airbus A230, complete with its "black boxes" and their vital data, remains unknown.
Egyptian authorities previously said they believe terrorism is a more likely explanation than equipment failure but so far no hard evidence has emerged and no group has claimed responsibility.
