Human remains have been recovered from the EgyptAir Flight 804 crash site in the Mediterranean, according to Egypt’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee.
An Egyptian-contracted search vessel carrying the recovered remains is headed to the Egyptian port of Alexandria to hand over the remains to investigation officials and prosecutors, the committee said.
The number of victims that can be identified by the retrieved body parts is still unclear. Upon arrival, the remains will be transferred to the Department of Forensic Medicine in Cairo to begin DNA analysis immediately, a statement from the investigation committee said.
The Airbus A320 vanished from the radar on May 19, plunging into the eastern Mediterranean Sea en route from Paris to Cairo, killing all 66 people on board. The cause of the crash remains unknown.
In the ongoing investigation, researchers are working to extract information from the aircraft’s flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, or so-called black boxes, that were both found damaged in the past two weeks.
Both the wreckage and early analysis of the flight data recorder — which has been repaired — show signs of heat and smoke, officials said.
The search vessel will return to the crash location to continue the search for human remains and debris, the investigation committee said.