Pilots aboard the doomed EgyptAir Flight MS804 that crashed on May 19 near a Greek island in the Mediterranean Sea were aware of the fire that was racing through a bathroom and into the avionics area, and tried to put it out, according to U.S.-based ABC News and other international news agencies.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because an official statement is yet to be released, Egyptian investigators said Tuesday that recordings from the recovered “black box” cockpit voice recorder were consistent with previous data recovered from the wreckage of the plane.
Investigators have not ruled out terrorism — or anything — due to the suddenness of the fire and its magnitude, which flared while the aircraft was at 38,000 feet in clear skies.
Radar showed the plane suddenly turned 90 degrees left and then a full 360 degrees to the right before dropping to 15,000 feet. At 10,000 feet it disappeared from the radar. No distress call was ever made.
All 66 passengers and crew aboard the flight en route to Cairo from Paris were killed in the crash. Human remains were recovered by deep-sea ocean diver teams.