The newspaper cited French sources who confirmed that a fire broke out at 37,000 feet and that wreckage recovered from the sea showed signs of smoke damage at the front of the aircraft. Earlier electronic data had signalled smoke in the avionics area below the cockpit.
No distress call was made, suggesting that the crew were distracted or incapacitated before the final impact in the early hours of May 19. Debris has been discovered nearly 10,000 feet below the surface 180 miles off the Egyptian coast.
The Airbus A320’s cockpit voice recorder is undergoing repairs in France and has yet to reveal any information, however, experts believe it is salvageable. All bodies that have been found so far have been taken to Alexandria, where forensic experts will examine them.
