CAIRO, May 24. /TASS/. Egypt’s chief forensic expert, Hisham Abdel Hamid, has dismissed the rumor the loss of Egypt Air’s A320 passenger liner over the Southern Mediterranean was due to an explosion on board.
"Statements attributed to forensic specialists that have appeared in the media disagree with the reality," he told the official news agency MENA. "This is merely a speculation that has nothing to do with forensic examination."
Earlier, Associated Press quoted Egyptian medical examiners as saying that primary examination of the victims’ remains pointed to an explosion on board. The Masrawy news portal has said forensic specialists spotted no traces of explosives on the debris recovered at the site of the A320 crash.
Egypt Air’s flight MS804 from Paris to Cairo disappeared from radar screens in the small hours of May 19, 35 minutes before the scheduled arrival at Cairo’s airport, shortly after entering Egypt’s airspace. The plane’s debris were later spotted near the Greek island of Karpathos. The salvage operation is continuing on an area of 40 nautical miles (about 74 kilometers). There were 66 people on board, including 56 passengers from twelve countries.