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This
picture
posted
Saturday,
May 21,
2016, on
the
official
Facebook
page of
the
Egyptian
Armed
Forces
spokesman
shows
part of
the
wreckage
from
EgyptAir
flight
804.
Search
crews
found
floating
human
remains,
luggage
and
seats
from the
doomed
EgyptAir
jetliner
Friday
but face
a
potentially
more
complex
task in
locating
bigger
pieces
of
wreckage
and the
black
boxes
vital to
determining
why the
plane
plunged
into the
Mediterranean.
Arabic
reads: “
Part of
plane
wreckage”.
(Egyptian
Armed
Forces
Facebook
via AP) |
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Forensic
expert:
EgyptAir
human
remains
suggest
explosion
By SAM
MAGDY
Associated
Press
CAIRO
(AP) --
Human
remains
retrieved
from the
crash
site of
EgyptAir
Flight
804 have
burn
marks
and are
very
small in
size,
suggesting
an
explosion
on board
may have
downed
the
aircraft
in the
east
Mediterranean,
a senior
Egyptian
forensics
official
said
Tuesday.
"The
logical
explanation
is that
an
explosion
brought
it
down,"
the
official
told The
Associated
Press.
The
official,
who is
part of
the
Egyptian
team
investigating
the
crash
that
killed
all 66
people
on board
the
flight
from
Paris to
Cairo
early
last
Thursday,
has
personally
examined
the
remains
at a
Cairo
morgue.
He spoke
on
condition
of
anonymity
because
he was
not
authorized
to
release
the
information.
However,
the head
of the
government's
forensic
agency
later
Tuesday
dismissed
as
speculation
all
media
reports
about
human
remains
from the
crash
indicating
an
explosion.
"Whatever
has been
published
is
baseless
and mere
assumptions,"
Hisham
Abdel-Hamid
told
Egypt's
state
MENA
news
agency.
A
statement
from the
government's
investigative
committee
also
warned
media
outlets
to be
cautious
about
what is
published
"to
avoid
chaos
and
spreading
false
rumors
and
damaging
the
state's
high
interests
and
national
security."
The
Egyptian
expert
told the
AP that
all 80
pieces
that
have
been
brought
to Cairo
so far
are very
small.
"There
isn't
even a
whole
body
part,
like an
arm or a
head,"
said the
official,
adding
that one
piece
was the
left
part of
a head.
He said
the body
parts
are "so
tiny"
and that
at least
one
piece of
a human
arm has
signs of
burns -
an
indication
it might
have
"belonged
to a
passenger
sitting
next to
the
explosion."
"But I
cannot
say what
caused
the
blast,"
he said.
He did
not say
whether
traces
of
explosives
were
found on
the
human
remains
retrieved
so far.
The
expert's
comments
mark a
new
dramatic
twist
surrounding
last
week's
crash,
which
still
remains
a
mystery.
The
plane's
black
boxes
have yet
to be
found
and
photographs
of
retrieved
debris
published
by the
Egyptian
military
over the
weekend
were not
charred
and
appear
to show
no signs
of fire.
Egyptian
officials
have
said
they
believe
terrorism
is a
more
likely
explanation
than
equipment
failure,
or some
other
catastrophic
event,
and some
aviation
experts
have
said the
erratic
flight
reported
by the
Greek
defense
minister
suggests
a bomb
blast or
a
struggle
in the
cockpit.
But so
far no
hard
evidence
has
emerged
on the
cause of
the
disaster.
Also
Tuesday,
the
investigative
team led
by Ayman
al-Moqadem
issued
its
second
report
on the
case,
saying
that so
far
pieces
of the
plane
wreckage
have
been
taken to
Cairo in
18
batches.
It added
that the
priority
is to
locate
the
black
boxes
and to
retrieve
more
bodies.
France's
aviation
accident
investigation
agency
would
not
comment
on
anything
involving
the
bodies
or say
whether
any
information
has
surfaced
in the
investigation
to
indicate
an
explosion.
A French
patrol
boat
took one
doctor
on board
to help
with
searches
when and
if the
body
parts
are
found.
But the
French
Navy
said
that if
it finds
debris
and body
parts,
this
would be
first
reported
to
Egyptian
authorities
and
French
justice
officials.
In a
search
for
clues,
family
members
of the
victims
gave
been
arriving
during
the day
Tuesday
at the
Cairo
morgue
forensics'
department
to give
DNA
samples
to help
identify
the
remains
of their
kin, a
security
official
said.
The
official
also
spoke on
condition
of
anonymity
because
he was
not
authorized
to talk
to
reporters.
Also, a
technical
team
from
Egypt's
forensic
medicine
department
went to
a hotel
near the
Cairo
International
Airport
where
relatives
of the
victims
are
gathered
to take
DNA
samples
to use
in
identifying
the
bodies.
The
EgyptAir
crash
shocked
a nation
struggling
to
revive
its
ailing
economy
and
contain
a
resilient
insurgency
by
Islamic
militants.
Safety
onboard
Egyptian
aircraft
and at
the
country's
airports
have
been
under
close
international
scrutiny
since a
Russian
airliner
crashed
in the
Sinai
Peninsula
last
October,
killing
all 224
people
on
board,
shortly
after
taking
off from
an
Egyptian
resort.
The
crash -
claimed
by the
Islamic
State
affiliate
in Sinai
and
blamed
by
Moscow
on an
explosive
device
planted
on board
-
decimated
Egypt's
lucrative
tourism
industry,
which
had
already
been
battered
by years
of
turmoil
in the
country.
If
mechanical
or
structural
failure
is found
to be
behind
the
crash of
Flight
804,
that
would
deal
another
severe
blow to
both
tourism
and the
national
carrier.
If
downed
by an
act of
terror,
the
Egyptians
can
point to
security
at
Charles
de
Gaulle
Airport
in
Paris,
from
which
the
plane
took
off.
Egypt
has
dispatched
a
submarine
to
search
for the
flight's
black
boxes
and a
French
ship
joined
the
international
effort
to
locate
the
wreckage
and
search
for the
plane's
data
recorders.
Ships
and
planes
from
Britain,
Cyprus,
France,
Greece
and the
United
States
are also
taking
part in
the
search
for the
debris
from the
aircraft,
including
the
black
boxes.
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