France sent a vessel equipped with sonar to the Egyptian plane crash site to try to locate the black boxes. An aviation expert told journalists that before the plane crash, it sent messages signaling the presence of fire near the cockpit.

Smoke and flames erupted aboard the flight MS804 airline few minutes before it disappeared from radars in the early hours of Thursday.  “There was a fire on board. The system has sent very clear messages, “said aviation expert Tim van Beveren German media.

These warnings were sent automatically by the computer system of the Airbus A320 Thursday morning local time. “We are analyzing these reports. At this moment we can not deny or confirm the information “, said an official of the Egyptian civil aviation.

One of the messages sent by the plane was that “Dense smoke triggered alarms at the front of the unit, where its vital parts are located”, according to Wall Street Journal, which cited unidentified sources from inside the investigation. Flight unconfirmed data reports indicate a number of problems that the pilot may have had to face just minutes before the crash.

At the crash site human remains have been identified at about 290 km north of Alexandria. The discovery took place 36 hours after the Egyptian plane, which was going from Paris to Cairo, suddenly disappeared from the radar.

“Egyptian Navy was able to recover the remnants of the plane, some items belonging to passengers, human remains and some airplane seats,” according to a statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The discovery of the black boxes will take some time, given that the water has depths between 2,430 and 3,040 meters. On board were 66 people, including 30 Egyptians, 15 French and other citizens from over 10 countries.

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