EgyptAir crash: Human remains retrieved from crash site 'point to an explosion on board'

Cairo : A forensic official has said human remains retrieved from the area where EgyptAir Flight 804 crashed point to an explosion on board.

The anonymous official is part of Egypt's investigative team and has examined victim's remains at a morgue in Cairo. 

He told the Associated Press that all 80 body parts received so far are small and that “there isn't even a whole body part, like an arm or a head", adding: “The logical explanation is that it was an explosion."

There has been no confirmed cause of the disaster, which killed all 66 passengers and crew on board the flight on its journey from Paris to Cairo.

Automatic messages sent in the minutes before the plane disappeared from radar in the early hours of Thursday morning appeared to indicate problems with the cockpit windows, smoke on board, autopilot and the flight control system respectively. 

Body parts, luggage and passengers' belongings have been recovered alongside wreckage from the aircraft during searches of the Mediterranean Sea.

But the location of the main body of the Airbus A230, complete with its "black boxes" and their vital data, remains unknown.

Claims by Greece's defence minister that the plane swerved and rapidly lost altitude before it disappeared from radar were challenged by an Egpytian official yesterday.

Egyptian authorities previously said they believe terrorism is a more likely explanation than equipment failure but so far no hard evidence has emerged and no group has claimed responsibility.

Ships and planes from Britain, Cyprus, France, Greece and the United States are taking part in the search for the debris from the aircraft, including a French vessel equipped with sonar.

The search area is roughly halfway between Egypt's coastal city of Alexandria and the Greek island of Crete, where the water is 8,000 to 10,000 feet deep.