Search Ship Retrieves Remains Of Egyptair Crash Victims

A search ship has
retrieved all the human remains that were mapped at the crash site of the Egyptair passenger plane that plunged into the Mediterranean Sea in May, investigation team said.
The Egypt-led investigation committee said in a statement that the vessel John Lethbridge, was operated by the Mauritius-based company, Deep Ocean Search.
It said that the ship departed from the crash location for the port of Alexandria to deliver the human remains to prosecutors and forensic doctors.
“The remains will be immediately transported to the forensic department in Cairo to start DNA tests.
“The vessel will return to the crash site to conduct a new thorough scan of the seabed and to search for any other possible remains there.
“Data downloaded from the flight data recorder – one of two black boxes on the plane suggested smoke aboard the Airbus A-320 shortly before its crash on May 19,’’ the statement said.
It said that the aircraft went down into the Mediterranean Sea while en route from Paris to Cairo, killing all 66 people on board.
No distress call was received.
Following the disaster, Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy said that a terrorist act appeared a more likely cause than mechanical failure.
The crash came almost six months after a Russian passenger jet broke up in midair shortly after take-off from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board.
Russia said that the incident was caused by a bomb.
The Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility and published a photo of a soft drink can that it said had been filled with explosives and smuggled onto the flight.