EgyptAir crash - explosion report 'premature', says forensics chief

BTN News
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

As might be expected*, the head of Egypt's forensics authority has dismissed as 'premature' any suggestion that the small sizes of body parts retrieved since an EgyptAir plane crashed last week indicates there was an explosion on board, either terror-related or an accident.


Investigators still are looking for clues among the human remains and debris already recovered from the Mediterranean sea.


The plane and its black box recorders, which could explain what brought down the Paris-Cairo flight as it entered Egyptian air space, have not yet been located.

 

It is understood that in the 23 bags of body parts collected, the largest human remains measures about the same as the palm of an adult hand.


One un-named forensics official had concluded the size suggested there had been an explosion, although no trace of explosives has been detected. Hisham Abdelhamid, head of Egypt's forensics authority, later said this assessment was "mere assumption" and that it was too early to draw conclusions.


At least two other sources agreed it would be premature to say what caused EgyptAir flight 804 to plunge into the sea, killing all 66 on board.


"All we know is it disappeared suddenly without making a distress call," one said, adding that only by analysing the black boxes or a large amount of debris could authorities begin to form a clearer picture of what may have gone wrong.


The plane did send a series of automatic warnings indicating smoke had been detected on board, a cockpit window was 'heated' and other possible IT-related faults, shortly before it disappeared. The signals did not indicate what might have caused the problems.

Robot submarine

Egypt now has deployed a robot submarine and France has sent a search ship to help hunt for the black boxes, but it is not known whether signals emitted by the flight recorders have been detected as yet; they are in waters possibly 3,000 metres deep. The signal emitters have a battery life of 30 days.


Meanwhile, six days after the plane vanished off radar screens, Egyptian and Greek officials - who monitored the flight before it crossed into Egypt's air space - continued to give differing accounts of its last moments.


In Greece, two officials stood by earlier statements that Greek radar picked up sharp swings in the jet's trajectory, 90 degrees left, then 360 degrees right as it plunged from a cruising altitude to 15,000 feet before vanishing.


But Ehab Mohieldin Azmi, head of Egypt's air navigation services, said Egyptian officials saw no sign of the plane swerving, and claimed it had been visible at 37,000 feet until it disappeared.
"Of course, we tried to call it more than once and it did not respond," he told Reuters. "We asked the planes that were nearby to give it a relay and we could not reach it. That's it."
* Egypt's tourism industry suffered a devastating meltdown in the aftermath of a downed Russian jet at Sharm el-Sheikh - a loss that the Egyptian government still denies was caused by a bomb - and the government has made no secret of its desire to rebuild holidaymaker confidence in the region.

EgyptAir crash - explosion report 'premature', says forensics chief

BTN News
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

As might be expected*, the head of Egypt's forensics authority has dismissed as 'premature' any suggestion that the small sizes of body parts retrieved since an EgyptAir plane crashed last week indicates there was an explosion on board, either terror-related or an accident.


Investigators still are looking for clues among the human remains and debris already recovered from the Mediterranean sea.


The plane and its black box recorders, which could explain what brought down the Paris-Cairo flight as it entered Egyptian air space, have not yet been located.

 

It is understood that in the 23 bags of body parts collected, the largest human remains measures about the same as the palm of an adult hand.


One un-named forensics official had concluded the size suggested there had been an explosion, although no trace of explosives has been detected. Hisham Abdelhamid, head of Egypt's forensics authority, later said this assessment was "mere assumption" and that it was too early to draw conclusions.


At least two other sources agreed it would be premature to say what caused EgyptAir flight 804 to plunge into the sea, killing all 66 on board.


"All we know is it disappeared suddenly without making a distress call," one said, adding that only by analysing the black boxes or a large amount of debris could authorities begin to form a clearer picture of what may have gone wrong.


The plane did send a series of automatic warnings indicating smoke had been detected on board, a cockpit window was 'heated' and other possible IT-related faults, shortly before it disappeared. The signals did not indicate what might have caused the problems.

Robot submarine

Egypt now has deployed a robot submarine and France has sent a search ship to help hunt for the black boxes, but it is not known whether signals emitted by the flight recorders have been detected as yet; they are in waters possibly 3,000 metres deep. The signal emitters have a battery life of 30 days.


Meanwhile, six days after the plane vanished off radar screens, Egyptian and Greek officials - who monitored the flight before it crossed into Egypt's air space - continued to give differing accounts of its last moments.


In Greece, two officials stood by earlier statements that Greek radar picked up sharp swings in the jet's trajectory, 90 degrees left, then 360 degrees right as it plunged from a cruising altitude to 15,000 feet before vanishing.


But Ehab Mohieldin Azmi, head of Egypt's air navigation services, said Egyptian officials saw no sign of the plane swerving, and claimed it had been visible at 37,000 feet until it disappeared.
"Of course, we tried to call it more than once and it did not respond," he told Reuters. "We asked the planes that were nearby to give it a relay and we could not reach it. That's it."
* Egypt's tourism industry suffered a devastating meltdown in the aftermath of a downed Russian jet at Sharm el-Sheikh - a loss that the Egyptian government still denies was caused by a bomb - and the government has made no secret of its desire to rebuild holidaymaker confidence in the region.