Early Evidence from EgyptAir Flight 804 Suggests Explosion

Still pictures show parts and some of the passengers belongings of the missing Egyptair that have been recovered from the Mediterranean sea.

Anonymous source points to evidence of explosion while official statement passes idea off as speculation.

As debris and human remains continue to be recovered from the area where EgyptAir Flight 804 is believed to have crashed, two experts believe they have an idea as to what brought down the ill-fated flight. Quoting two anonymous sources from an Egyptian forensic team, the Associated Press reports the leading suspected cause of the Airbus A320 crash could be a mid-air explosion. The team members were quoted anonymously, as neither one was authorized to comment on the case.

The officials claim they inspected human remains retrieved from the crash site in a Cairo morgue, all of which were very small and contained burn marks. As a result, the two concluded some sort of explosion could be responsible for the crash. The airline confirmed on Twitter that human remains and other debris from the aircraft have been recovered, but have not given an English-language statement on the findings since May 20.

Despite the team’s anonymous claims, an official statement from the Egyptian Forensic Medicine Authority (FMA) dismisses those ideas as speculative. In a comment to Egyptian state-run news organization MENA, FMA director Hisham Abdel-Hamid called the explosion theory “baseless.”

“Everything published on that matter is unfounded and is a mere assumption,” the statement from Abdel-Hamid read, according to Egyptian news website Ahram Online. “[A statement] has not been issued by the forensics authority or any forensic experts working for it.”

Investigators are also looking into claims the aircraft made erratic turns before dropping off of radar screens on the night it crashed. Previously, the Greek defense ministry claimed the aircraft began a set of turns while falling from their cruising altitude of 38,000 feet, including a 360-degree turn. However, the leader of Egypt’s air navigation service contradicted that account to the AP, claiming the aircraft did not make any turns, but instead suddenly dropped off the radar.

MS804 crashed on Wednesday, May 18, while flying from Paris to Cairo. All 66 people aboard the aircraft were killed in the incident. Although the human remains and debris belonging to the aircraft have been found, search teams are still looking for the main wreckage and flight data recorders.

[Photo: Egyptian Armed Forces]