In May, EgyptAir Flight 804 crashed into the Mediterranean Sea while traveling from Paris to Cairo. All 66 people on board have been presumed dead, and causes of the crash are still being investigated. No group has yet claimed overt responsibility for the crash, but investigators just found explosive residue on the wreckage.
French news outlet Le Figaro reported that French investigators have found traces of TNT on the plane’s debris. This could potentially support the theory that there was an explosion aboard the plane prior to the crash.
The origin of the traces isn’t immediately clear, but their discovery seems to be inciting a disagreement between the French and Egyptian authorities. Egyptian officials didn’t let the French investigators examine the debris in greater detail, according to Reuters:
Egypt wishes to write a joint report with France to validate the presence of TNT on the debris. France has refused to do this because the investigators were not able to carry out an adequate inspection to determine how the traces could have got there, Le Figaro said.
Responding to Le Figaro’s report, sources on the Egyptian-led investigation committee denied the French team’s work had been obstructed.
“None of the investigators were prevented from participating in investigations, but rather the work is being done jointly according to the conduct of the investigative process,” one of the committee sources said.
Flight 804 was a regularly scheduled flight between Paris and Cairo. It was set to arrive in Cairo at 3:05 a.m. local time, but vanished from radar 35 minutes before its planned landing. Soon after, a search was launched, which eventually recovered debris and body parts. The cause of the crash still remains a mystery.
The investigation remains ongoing.