Data box confirms smoke detectors were triggered aboard EgyptAir flight MS804

Egyptian investigators have confirmed that smoke was detected on board the ill-fated EgyptAir flight MS804.

The plane crashed into the Mediterranean sea on May 19 killing all 66 people on board.

Automated electronic messages sent by the plane indicated that smoke detectors went off in a toilet and in the avionics area below the cockpit minutes before the plane disappeared.

The recorded data are consistent with those messages, investigators said.

The voice and flight data recorders were recovered from a depth of about 3,000 meters in the Mediterranean sea where the Airbus A320 crashed.

According to Egyptian investigators, part of the front section of the aircraft’s wreckage showed ‘signs of high temperature damage’ and soot.

The second black box, the cockpit recorder, is still being repaired in France.

Both black boxes were sent to France for repairs as they were badly damaged after they were recovered.

The French prosecutor’s office on June 28 opened an investigation into the possible manslaughter of all aboard flight MS804 but said it was not looking into terrorism as a possible cause of the crash at the moment.