'There isn't even a whole head. The logical explanation is an explosion': Forensic chief says 80 body parts retrieved from MS804 suggest blast downed plane

Human remains retrieved from the EgyptAir 804 crash site point to an explosion on board, an Egyptian forensic official said today.

The official is part of the investigation team that has personally examined the body parts taken to a Cairo morgue.

He said all 80 pieces brought to the capital so far were small and that 'there isn't even a whole body part, like an arm or a head'. 

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The mother (left) of EgyptAir hostess Yara Hani Tawfik weeps during a mass at Al-Boutrossiya Church for victims of the jet disaster. Relatives faced further agony today after an Egyptian forensic official said human remains recovered from the crash site were so small it suggested there was an explosion on board

US Navy personnel ready equipment on board a Lockheed P-3C Orion patrol aircraft during a operation on Sunday for debris and human remains of MS804 which crashed in the Mediterranean, killing 66 people

The official, who declined to be named, said 'the logical explanation is that it was an explosion' that may have brought down the jet over the Mediterranean Sea.

His assessment was backed up by the head of the Egyptian Forensic Medicine Authority. 

Dr Hesham Abdel-Hamid told MailOnline the body parts recovered from the Mediterranean had injuries consistent with an explosion. 

He said: 'Analysis of the remains of the victims flight MS804 indicated there was an explosion on the plane.

'The remains had been ripped apart because of a bomb. However we have not found any bomb fragments as yet.' 

More than 20 body bags containing part of corpses have been taken to the Zenhom morgue as part of the investigation.

Captain Mohamed Said Ali Ali Shoukair was among the 66 passengers and crew who died on MS804

Tragic loss: Joumana, four months,  and her two-and-a-half-year-old brother Mohamed (right) were two of the youngest casualities of the EgyptAir disaster

Pictured: Faycal Bettiche (left) and his wife Nouha were taking their young children on holiday when travelling on the doomed flight. Right, air stewardess Samar Ezz Eldin who also lost her life in the disaster

Family man: British geologist Richard Osman was among the 66 victims on board the jet. His brother has described his 'delirious happiness' after the birth of his second daughter just three weeks ago. Mr Osman is pictured here with his French-born wife Aureilie and his first daughter Victios

Relatives of the 66 passengers and crew gave DNA samples to the forensic services to aid identification.

A forensic source said: 'There is no complete body. There are only body parts. They are unrecognisable.

'But it is important for the families to be able to bury their loved-ones and to be able to visit their grave to help with the mourning process.'

Dr Abdel-Hamid said the Egyptian Attorney General had asked the French and Greek authorities for all data relating to the aircraft and its flight path.

He said: 'Attorney General Nabil Sadk has asked Athens and Paris to release all the documents related to Egypt Air flight MS804 and the aircraft's flight path.

'The attorney general has also asked the Greek and French authorities for recordings of all the communications between the aircraft and the Greek air traffic controls since it entered Greek air space.' 

Earlier, the head of Egypt's state-run provider of air navigation services said the doomed jet did not swerve or lose altitude before it disappeared off radar. 

The comments by Ehab Azmy, head of the National Air Navigation Services Company, challenged an earlier account by Greece's defence minister.

Mr Azmy said that in the minutes before the EgyptAir plane disappeared it was flying at its normal altitude of 37,000 feet, according to the radar reading. 

Mourners sit in their cars waiting to enter the El-Mosheer Tantawy Mosque in Cairo ahead of the memorial ceremony last night held by EgyptAir for relatives and family members of EgyptAir staff on flight MS804 

EgyptAir staff walk between cars as they try to enter the El-Mosheer Tantawy Mosque for the memorial

A mourners sits in his car waiting to enter the Al Mosheer Tantawy mosque in Cairo for the prayer service

Mr Azmy said: 'That fact degrades what the Greeks are saying about the aircraft suddenly losing altitude before it vanished from radar.

'There was no turning to the right or left and it was fine when it entered Egypt's FIR (flight information region), which took nearly a minute or two before it disappeared.' 

According to Greece's defence minister Panos Kammenos, the plane swerved wildly and dropped to 10,000 feet before it fell off radar at about 2.45am local time on Thursday.  

Greek civil aviation authorities said all appeared fine with the flight until air traffic controllers were to hand it over to their Egyptian counterparts. The pilot did not respond to calls and the plane then vanished from radars.  

The service was held as an Egyptian air traffic official said the doomed jet did not swerve or lose altitude before it disappeared off radar, contradicting an earlier account by Greece's defence minister

The mass prayer ceremony took place at the Al-Mosheer Tantawy Mosque in Cairo last night

Mourners arrive for a memorial for the victims of the EgyptAir crash at Cairo's Al Mosheer Tantawy mosque

Egypt, which is sending a submarine to search for the flight recorders, has refuted earlier reports alleging that search crews had found the plane's black boxes which could offer vital clues to what happened in the final minutes of the flight. 

Ships and planes from Britain, Cyprus, France, Greece and the United States are taking part in the search for the debris from the aircraft, including the black boxes. 

The French vessel that joined the effort is equipped with sonar that can pick up the underwater 'pings' emitted by the recorders.

The search area is roughly halfway between Egypt's coastal city of Alexandria and the Greek island of Crete, where the water is 8,000 to 10,000 feet deep.  

It was initially claimed that Mohamed Said Shoukair lost all radio contact before the Airbus A320 plunged into the sea last Thursday, with the loss of 66 lives, while travelling from Paris to Cairo

Data indicates the plane was on fire before it plummeted into the Mediterranean. An ACARS screen grab (above) shows smoke alarms in the lavatory behind the cockpit sounded at 00.26GMT, three minutes before the plane lost contact

To add to the confusion, It was initially claimed Captain Mohamed Said Ali Ali Shoukair lost all radio contact before the Airbus A320 plunged into the sea last Thursday en route from Paris to Cairo.

But aviation sources in Paris have now said he contacted Egyptian air traffic controllers to say he was going to make an emergency landing because there smoke filling the plane.

There was 'conversation several minutes long' between Captain Shoukair and the controllers, which amounted to 'a distress call', according to French TV station M6.

However, the claims were last night denied by EgyptAir.

A spokesman said: 'Claims made by the French TV station are not true. The pilot did not contact Egypt air control before the incident.'

A 2013 report by the Egyptian ministry of civil aviation found that the same Airbus 320 made an emergency landing in Cairo that year, shortly after taking off on its way to Istanbul, when one of the engines 'overheated'.

Aviation experts have said that overheating is uncommon yet is highly unlikely to cause a crash.

Relatives of the Christian victims of EgyptAir flight MS804 weep during an absentee funeral mass at the main Cathedral in Cairo on Sunday. Remains of the first victims were described as 'unrecognisable' as they were taken to Cairo to start the long and painful process of identifying the bodies

A Coptic Christian grieves during prayers for victims of Thursday's crash EgyptAir crash at the Al-Boutrossiya Church, the main Coptic Cathedral complex, in Cairo, Egypt on Sunday