EgyptAir Black Box Confirms Smoke On Plane

Data downloaded from a repaired black box of the EgyptAir jet which crashed in the Mediterranean confirms there was smoke in the aircraft.

The Egyptian investigation committee looking into the downing of MS804, which killed 66 people, said soot had also been found on a piece of wreckage from the plane.

"Recorded data is showing a consistency with ACARS messages of lavatory smoke and avionics smoke," an investigation committee said in a statement.

"Parts of the front section of the aircraft showed signs of high temperature damage and soot."

The Airbus 320 was travelling from Paris to Cairo on 19 May when it crashed. There was no distress call from the aircraft and no group has ever claimed that it brought it down.

The memory cards from the flight data recorders was returned to Egypt earlier this week after being cleaned and repaired by technicians at France's air accident investigation agency, the BEA.

The chip from the cockpit voice recorder are still being fixed.

Debris recovered from the Mediterranean is being stored at Cairo airport and investigators were planning to try to reassemble part of the aircraft's frame in the search for more clues.

On Monday, French authorities opened a manslaughter inquiry into the crash and said there was no evidence so far to link it to terrorism.