Recovered debris of the EgyptAir jet that crashed in the Mediterranean Sea is seen with the Arabic caption 'life jacket.' (Photo: Egyptian military)
Egypt is to transfer the victims' remains from the EgyptAir MS804 crash to relatives next week, state news agency MENA reported on Thursday, citing an EgyptAir hospitality official.
The Airbus A320 plunged into the Mediterranean Sea on May 19 while en route from Paris to Cairo, killing all 66 people on board, among them 40 Egyptians and 15 French nationals.
Procedures to hand over the remains of the plane crew from the main state morgue will be completed on Saturday morning and a funeral prayer will be held at various mosques in the afternoon, captain Osama Abdel Baset was quoted by MENA as saying.
The remains of the rest of the passengers will be handed over on Sunday, he added.
Civil aviation ministry sources told Al-Ahram Arabic news website that the remains of Egyptians will be handed over starting Sunday until Tuesday, while the remains of foreign passengers to be handed over on Friday.
It is expected that France will send a private jet to receive the remains of the French victims.
Earlier in December, Egypt’s aviation ministry announced that traces of explosives had been found on the victims' remains.
But France's BEA air crash investigation agency said it is not possible to determine what might have caused the crash. It said no detailed information has been provided on how the samples were taken leading to the detection of traces of explosives.
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