Memory units of EgyptAir flight recorders 'severely damaged'

Egyptian aircraft accident investigators say the memory units of both flight recorders from the crashed EgyptAir MS804 are severely damaged and will require lots of time and effort to fix.

According to sources on the committee, it was still critically analysing the memory units from the Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder before determining whether Egyptian expertise could fix it or that it needs to be sent abroad.

Egypt confirms that, after the Cockpit Voice Recorder, the Flight Data Recorder memory unit has also been retrieved from the Mediterranean.

— Aviation Safety Net (@AviationSafety) June 17, 2016

The memory units were retrieved from the Mediterranean after a long and extensive search by the Egyptian authorities together with French experts. Egyptian authorities need information on the memory unit in order to ascertain the real reasons behind the plane crash.

The EgyptAir crashed on May 19 with 66 passengers on board while flying from Paris to Cairo.

The A320 aircraft with flight number MS804 which departed Paris at 23:09 (CEST) heading to Cairo was 10 miles inside Egyptian airspace when contact was lost with it, according to the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry.

Over the last weeks, debris of the plane and human parts have been retrieved until most recently when the black box, which contains crucial information was also found.

Among the passengers were 30 Egyptians, 15 French, a Briton, two Iraqis and a passenger each from Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Chad, Portugal, Algeria and Canada.