
An EgyptAir plane after flight MS804 disappeared, takes off from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France, May 19, 2016 (Photo: Reuters)
An Egyptian investigation committee arrived in France on Monday to repair the two black boxes of the EgyptAir flight MS804 that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea in May, killing all 66 people on board, the committee said in a statement.
Upon their arrival in Paris, the team attended meetings with French officials to discuss a plan of action and the procedures that would be taken to start the repair of the black boxes’ electronic circuit board.
Meanwhile, the plane’s wreckage, extracted from the Mediterranean, has been transported to a secure location within Cairo’s International Airport and is awaiting a technical team’s examination, the statement read.
The statement also added that efforts to extract bodies of the victims are still ongoing, using the help of Egyptian and French medical examiners on board the ship Lethbridge John recently hired by Egypt.
The committee said in a previous statement that once the black boxes have been repaired they would be returned to Cairo for analysis in aviation ministry laboratories.
Investigators have said it is too early to determine what caused the plane to crash, although a terror attack has not been ruled out.
The French Aviation Safety Agency has said the aircraft transmitted automated messages indicating smoke in the cabin and a fault in the flight control unit minutes before it disappeared from radar.
Egyptian investigators have confirmed the aircraft made a 90-degree left turn followed by a 360-degree turn to the right before hitting the sea.
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