Egypt: need more time to reach conclusions on plane crash

Cairo, Jul 6: Experts investigating the EgyptAir plane crash in May need more time to analyse and match the information gathered before they can reach "very basic conclusions," the Egyptian-led investigative committee said.

Experts will compare information downloaded from the flight data recorder and "establish time correlation" with the information gleaned from the cabin voice recorder, the Egyptian Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee said in a statement yesterday.

The committee had said on Saturday that the memory chips of EgyptAir 804's black box voice recorder are intact and investigators should be able to access them.

The Airbus A320 plunged into the sea on May 19 while heading to Cairo from Paris, killing all 66 people on board. Investigators said last week that the plane's wreckage showed signs of fire while the data recorder confirmed smoke alarms had been activated. The plane was carrying 40 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, two Canadians and one passenger each from Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Chad, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

AFP