EgyptAir crash investigators are focusing on an iPad and iPhone being charged in the plane's cockpit that may have overheated and caught fire, causing the 2016 tragedy.
An investigation has begun by French authorities on whether the mobile devices played a role in the EgyptAir Flight MS804 crash after overheating, reported the Daily Mail on Thursday, adding that the flight's first officer had both an Apple iPhone 6S and an iPad Mini 4 on board.
The Airbus A320 flying overnight from Paris to Cairo crashed into the eastern Mediterranean Sea early on May 19 last year, said the BBC News. The flight left Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at 11:09 p.m. local time and was scheduled to reach Cairo International Airport at 3:15 a.m. Cairo time.
The flight had 66 passengers and crew on board when it went down.
CCTV showed that the first officer had placed a tablet and bottle of perfume on an instrument panel close to where investigators believe a fire had started on the airliner, said the Daily Mail.
The plane's flight data recorder indicated that there had been smoke in the toilet and avionics bay, while wreckage from the jet's front section showed signs of high temperature damage and soot.
Overheated mobile devices playing a role in the crash was first brought to light by the French newspaper Le Parisien in January, citing an air transport gendarmerie investigation, said The Telegraph.
"The (CCTV) images very clearly indicate that the Egyptian co-pilot put his telephone, tablet and bottles of perfume bought before boarding on the glare-shield," Le Parisien reported, per The Telegraph. "The investigators hence note a troubling parallel between the placing of these items that are fed by lithium batteries and the triggering of alarms during the flight."
The Telegraph said one air expert stated that the most "plausible" cause of the tragedy remained that a fire in the avionics bay beneath the cockpit sparked the fire by a short circuit or explosion.
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