A black box recording from crashed EgyptAir flight MS804 showed smoke alarms had sounded on board, according to an Egyptian-led investigative committee. Soot was also found on the wreckage.
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“The recorded data on the device is consistent with messages of the plane’s Acars [aircraft communications addressing and reporting] system that indicate smoke in its toilet and avionics room,” investigators said.
Their statement also said that wreckage retrieved from the front part of the jet pointed to damage caused by heat and intense smoke: “Parts of the front section of the aircraft showed signs of high temperature damage and soot.”
The committee added: “A comprehensive analysis will be conducted to determine the source and causes of these indications.”
The memory unit was retrieved from the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea and repaired in Paris before being analysed in Cairo. It contains detailed technical information on the flight, including its altitude and engine information, says The Independent.
Repair work of the cockpit voice recorder, the flight’s second black box, has also begun.
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The data will help determine the cause of the crash, which took place 180 miles north of the Egyptian coast, killing all 66 people on board.
Greek and Egyptian radar records show the French-manufactured Airbus A320, which was travelling from Paris to Cairo on 19 May, veered sharply to the left and then spun around to the right in the last minutes before crashing.
The pilots made no distress call and no terror group has claimed responsibility.
Wreckage from the crash was found on the sea floor between Crete and the Egyptian coast earlier this month.
