Egypt marks MS804 disaster
CAIRO: Egypt held a sombre ceremony on the first anniversary of the EgyptAir MS804 disaster here on Friday, but no answers were forthcoming on why the flight crashed into the Mediterranean, killing all passengers.
During the ceremony at Cairo airport, relatives of the victims laid flowers at the foot of a memorial wall bearing the names of all 66 passengers and crew killed when the Airbus A320 flying from Paris to here crashed.
The ceremony came two weeks after a source close to the French investigation ruled out that explosives caused the crash, contradicting Egyptian investigators who said explosive traces were found on the victims’ bodies.
After the ceremony, Egyptian Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy refused to comment on the results of the French investigation, saying he had no seen any “official statements” from them.
Asked why Egypt had not announced the results of its investigation a year after the crash, Fathy said the prosecution had taken over the probe.
No group has come forward to claim responsibility for the crash, which killed 40 Egyptians, including the 10-member crew, 15 French citizens and victims from several other countries.
French investigators had always favoured a mechanical fault as the crash cause, saying a fire broke out in or near the cockpit of the plane.
The French investigation source said this month “the combustion or self-combustion of a tablet in the cockpit” was “the working hypothesis”. AFP