EgyptAir Investigation Involves Technical, Criminal Aspects - Official

The investigation into the disappearance of the EgyptAir passenger plane this week involves both technical and criminal aspects, Egypt's chief investigator said Saturday.

CAIRO (Sputnik) – On Thursday, the EgyptAir Airbus A320 plane, carrying a total of 66 people, disappeared from radar screens over the Mediterranean Sea, 10 miles into Egyptian airspace. The plane was headed from Paris to Cairo.

"The investigation includes a technical part for which the commission investigating the causes of the incident is responsible, and the criminal part, in which the French prosecutor general deals with in coordination with the Egyptian attorney general," Ayman Muqaddam told Egypt's Ahram daily.

Muqaddam explained that the Egyptian prosecutor general was involved in identifying the remains of the victims through DNA tests, which will then be attached to materials in the investigation.

Greece, as a country involved in the initial and subsequent stages of the investigation, will be represented in the investigative commission with an accredited representative, Muqaddam added. The representative would have the right to inspect the scene of the incident, hear witness testimonies and examine black box records, he said.

"A number of committee members will be on board the Egyptian Navy ships, which are involved in the search for the wreckage. They are required to monitor the recovery process, and also to find places where the wreckage is detected and fix the coordinates of these locations," the chief investigator said, adding that committee members will monitor the search for data records.

France's Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for civil aviation safety (BEA) confirmed Saturday that there was smoke detected in the EgyptAir plane before the signal was lost. EgyptAir has said that the Egyptian Armed Forces have discovered the wreckage and personal items from flight MS804 295 kilometers (183 miles) from the coast of Alexandria.