Cairo, Egypt (NBC News) — Traces of explosives were found on bodies from the Egyptair jet that crashed into the Mediterranean in May, investigators said Thursday, suggesting the Paris-Cairo flight was brought down by a bomb.
Forensic reports received by accident investigators in Egypt “pointed to the detection of explosives on some of the human remains” from flight MS804, the country’s civil aviation agency said in a statement.
The Airbus A320 plunged into the sea Mediterranean on May 19, killing all 66 people on board.
The latest news could help solve the mystery of what caused the disaster.
Data from the aircraft’s black boxes, retrieved shortly after the crash, showed the aircraft’s automated warning system had detected smoke in the lavatory and avionics bay behind and below the cockpit.
Wreckage pulled from the sea showed the jet’s front section had signs of high temperature damage and soot.
The doomed flight took off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and at first flew normally. It was at 37,000 feet close to the end of its journey when it crashed.
Greek armed forces data shows that the plane was approximately 10 to 15 miles inside Egyptian airspace over the sea when it executed a turn of 90 degrees left and then a complete turn of 360 degrees toward the right before dropping off the radar at 10,000 feet.
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