EgyptAir plane crash caused by cockpit fire, coroner decides as he rejects official findings

UK inquest hears conflicting theories about why flight MS804 vanished over the Mediterranean

An Egyptian woman holds a poster and her national flag as she takes part in a march in Cairo, in 2016, for the 66 victims of the EgyptAir MS804 flight that crashed in the Mediterranean Sea. AFP

A UK coroner has rejected an Egyptian report saying an explosion caused a plane crash in 2016.

EgyptAir flight MS804 vanished over the Mediterranean in May of that year, killing all 66 on board.

The Egyptian investigator suggested that there had been a deliberate explosion on the aircraft.

However, nine years after the Airbus A320 crashed, an inquest into the death of passenger Richard Osman, who grew up in Carmarthen, Wales, has heard it was due to a fire on board.

Mr Osman, a 40-year-old geologist, had been travelling from Paris to Cairo when the plane crashed after entering Greek air space.

Mark Layton, the coroner for Carmarthenshire, said the inquest had been significantly delayed while they waited for all the evidence to be presented.

He said two conflicting explanations for the cause of the crash had been put forward by the French and Egyptian investigators.

He agreed with a British expert who believed a fire had broken out on board, possibly fuelled by a leak at an oxygen mask in the cockpit.

The inquest heard the fire would have spread rapidly throughout the flight deck, meaning the aircraft could not be controlled, resulting in the crash.

British aviation expert Ken Fairbank sided with the French report, which said a fire in the cockpit was the likely cause.

Mr Layton said the Egyptian report concluded the probable cause was “a detonation of an explosive device secreted in the forward galley, which resulted in fire and smoke that severely affected the aircraft and flight crew”.

Egyptians look at posters of the 66 victims of the EgyptAir MS804 flight that crashed in the Mediterranean Sea. AFP

Mr Fairbank said: “Despite the discovery of traces of explosives found on some of the wreckage and victims’ remains, the weight of evidence is not, in my view, consistent with the published scenario in which an explosive device triggered the accident.”

He said traces of explosives, possibly TNT, “cannot be ignored”, but the results had been “challenged” by the French authorities, who were not able to get them independently verified.

“I believe the fire most likely started adjacent to the first officer’s position on the right side of the flight deck,” he said.

Mr Fairbank said a hiss and a pop could be heard on a black box recording from the cockpit, but there was no sound of an explosion, and people were heard saying “fire”.

Mr Layton said he “fully accepts” Mr Fairbank’s conclusion.

Recording a narrative conclusion, he said: “Richard Osman was a passenger of a commercial flight MS804, travelling from Paris to Cairo, which crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on May 19, 2016.

This happened “following a fire on board caused by an ignition source of unknown origin, most likely associated with the first officer’s oxygen supply system, which either resulted from, or was fed by, an oxygen leak”.

Mr Layton said he would be writing a “prevention of future deaths report” to look at ways to ensure the tragedy was not repeated in the future.

Mr Osman’s widow, Aurelie Vandeputte, with whom he had two children, described him as “loved and appreciated” by his family, friends and colleagues.

In a statement, she said the nine years since his death had been “excruciating”, with years of “chaos and disrespect of the victims’ bodies, their families’ emotions, absence of information, false leaks and speculations”.

Peter Neenan, the family’s solicitor, said it had been a “travesty” that so long had passed since the accident without the Egyptian authorities issuing a final report or interim statement.

He said: “The suffering that the investigators needlessly inflicted on Aurelie and her family, as well as the families of the 65 others on board is unforgivable.”