Traces of explosives found on victims of EgyptAir crashed flight

Egyptian civil aviation ministry said Thursday that traces of explosives were found on the remains of some victims of EgyptAir flight MS804 which crashed over the Mediterranean in May.

The ministry said in a press release that the committee investigating the crash will refer the case to the Egyptian general prosecution for the possibility of a criminal act.

The plane went missing from radar screens on May 19 en route from Paris to Cairo and crashed over the Mediterranean some 290 km north of the coastal city of Alexandria, killing 66 people onboard.

In July, the investigation committee said the crash was caused by fire on board after decoding the black boxes.

A Russian airliner crashed over Egypt's Sinai in October of 2015, killing all 224 people on board.

Russia at the time said a bomb attack brought down the passenger jet, while Egypt's president Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said publicly that terrorists have been behind the plane crash.

The Sinai-based branch of the regional Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the Russian plane crash, which, though, had been strongly refuted by both Egypt and Russia.

Terrorist activities in Egypt killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the army ousted former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one year rule. Endit