Egyptian forensics chief denies EgyptAir explosion

The Egyptian head of forensics has denied reports that an initial examination of human remains belonging to victims aboard the EgyptAir jet that crashed in the Mediterranean last week pointed towards an explosion, Egyptian state news said on Tuesday.

"Everything published about this matter is completely false, and mere assumptions that did not come from the Forensics Authority," Hesham Abdelhamid was quoted as saying in a statement.

Earlier, a senior Egyptian forensics official had said that human remains retrieved from the crash site of EgyptAir Flight 804 suggested there was an explosion on board that may have brought down the aircraft in the eastern Mediterranean.

"The logical explanation is that an explosion brought it down," the official said. All 66 people on board were killed on the EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo early last Thursday.

The official, who is part of the Egyptian team investigating the crash, personally examined the remains at a Cairo morgue.

He based his assessment on the small number of body parts so far recovered from the site in the Mediterranean sea. Investigators had not so far found any traces of explosives that would suggest it was caused by a bomb, sources said.

"The size of the remains points towards an explosion, the biggest part was the size of a palm. Some of the remains started arriving on Sunday in about 23 bags," the forensics official said.

Egyptian authorities previously said they believe terrorism is a more likely explanation of the crash than equipment failure.

A statement issued by the Greek defence minister claimed the plane swerved before crashing, but the swerving of the plane was later discovered to be false. So far no hard evidence has emerged.