Manslaughter inquiry opened into EgyptAir crash

PARIS: French authorities opened a manslaughter inquiry into the May crash of an EgyptAir plane that killed 66 people, saying there is no evidence so far to link

PARIS: French authorities opened a manslaughter inquiry into the May crash of an EgyptAir plane that killed 66 people, saying there is no evidence so far to link it to terrorism.

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Prosecutor’s office spokesman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said the inquiry was launched as an accident investigation, not a terrorism investigation. She said French authorities are “not at all” favouring the theory that the plane was downed deliberately, though the status of the inquiry could eventually change if evidence emerges to that effect.

Investigators decided to start the probe before waiting to analyze the plane’s flight data and voice recorders, based on evidence gathered so far, she said, without elaborating.

EgyptAir Flight 804, an Airbus A320 en route from Paris to Cairo, slammed into the Mediterranean on May 19. The reason for the crash remains unclear. The pilots made no distress call and no group has claimed to have brought down the plane.