France Issues Unusual Rebuke of Egypt in 2016 Plane Crash Probe
- French agency cites fire, while Egyptians found explosives
- Crash over Mediterranean on EgyptAir flight killed 66 people
A poster shows the 66 victims of EgyptAir flight 804 in Cairo on May 26, 2016.
Photographer: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
French aviation accident investigators issued an unusual admonition of their Egyptian counterparts, questioning their conclusion about the crash of an EgyptAir plane in 2016.
France’s Office of Investigation and Analysis has determined that a fire that began in Flight 804’s cockpit most likely spread rapidly and sent the plane into the eastern Mediterranean, the agency said in a news release Friday. Egypt concluded that the crash was caused by an explosive and that “there had been a malicious act,” according to the French agency, known as the BEA.