EgyptAir blackbox data show heat damage, smoke

Cairo, Jun 29: Data from one of the black boxes of a crashed EgyptAir plane that killed all 66 people indicated that smoke was detected aboard the aircraft and showed "signs of damage because of high temperature", Egyptian authorities said today.

The Egyptian committee investigating the EgyptAir plane crash said it has extracted data from the plane recorder and they showed showed signs of high temperature damage. Automated electronic messages sent by the plane had shown that smoke detectors went off in a toilet and in the avionics area below the cockpit, minutes before the plane disappeared.

The committee said in a statement that the recorded data highlighted that smoke was detected from lavatory and avionics bay, which confirms earlier reports about smoke signs. The statement added that the recovered debris from the plane's front showed signs of high temperature damage.

"The cockpit voice recorder is still in France for repair," it said. The Egyptair flight MS804 from Paris to Cairo crashed into the Mediterranean on May 19, killing all 66 people on board. The wreckage was recovered from the Mediterranean Sea floor earlier this month.

PTI