Cairo – Forensic Expert: Human Remains in EgyptAir Crash Have Burns

Cairo – A senior Egyptian forensics official says human remains recovered from the crash site of EgyptAir Flight 804 have burns on them and are “very tiny,” which suggests an explosion may have taken place in midair on board the aircraft.

The official is on the Egyptian forensic team and has personally examined the remains, kept at a Cairo morgue. He spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information.

He says 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.”

All 66 people on board the flight from Paris to Cairo were killed in crash, which still remains a mystery.

All 80 pieces that have been brought to Cairo so far are 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.

Egyptian authorities have said they believe terrorism is a more likely explanation than equipment failure, 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.

An independent Cairo daily, al-Watan, quoted an unnamed forensics official in its Tuesday edition as saying the plane blew up in midair but that it has yet to be determined whether the blast was caused by the an explosive device or something else. The official further said the remains retrieved so far are “no larger than the size of a hand.”

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.

In a search for clues, family members of the victims arrived 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.

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.