Egypt's civil aviation ministry told Ahram Online on Saturday the Egyptian committee investigating the crash of EgyptAir plane in May over the Mediterranean did not receive any new evidence from French investigators, a day after a French newspaper reported that their side found traces of TNT in the plane's debris.
French newspaper Le Figaro reported Friday that investigators from France's Institute for Criminal Research found traces of TNT in the plane's debris while conducting investigations in Cairo.
On 19 May, EgyptAir flight MS804, en route from Paris to Cairo, crashed into the eastern Mediterranean, killing all 66 people on board . Fifteen French passengers were among those killed in the crash.
Le Figaro reported that Egyptian judicial authorities prevented investigators from conducting further examination of the wreckage, citing an unnamed source close to the probe.
"The investigation committee has not received any technical reports on investigation results from the [interior ministry's] criminal lab or the general prosecution on the matter," the ministry's media department head Bassem Samy told Ahram Online.
"The committee is still working to identify the technical causes of the crash," he added, stressing that any new results of the probe will be announced once verified.
Sources from the Egyptian-led investigation committee denied Saturday that the French team had been hindered from performing their work, as reported by the French paper.
In July, the investigation committee said the flight data recorder of the crashed aircraft showed a fire occurred on board the plane in its final moments.
Earlier analysis of the recorder indicated there was smoke in the lavatory and avionics bay, and recovered wreckage showed “signs of damage because of high temperatures.”
