Egyptian investigators split on EgyptAir explosion claims

The head of Egypt's forensic authority tasked with investigating the disapearance of EgyptAir Flight 804 has denied reports from a member of his team that a mid-air explosion likely took place.

"Everything published about this matter is completely false, and mere assumptions that did not come from the forensics authority," said Hesham Abdelhamid told Egyptian state news.

Another official told Reuters that only a small among of physical evidence had arrived to investigators in Cairo, and that it was too early to speculate about the cause of the crash.

Rumours emerged that a mid-air explosion brought down the flight came after an anonymous official said that body parts retrieved from the crash site suggested a mid-air explosion over the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Around 80 pieces of human remains have been sent to Cairo for studies so far. But the fact that the body parts are small led one investigator to tell press that he believed an onboard explosion was likely for the tragedy.

"The logical explanation is that an explosion brought it down," an Egyptian official from the investigation team told the Associated Press.

"There isn't even a whole body part, like an arm or a head," said the official, adding that one piece was the left part of a head. "But I cannot say what caused the blast," he said.

Another unnamed Egyptian investigator told Egyptian daily al-Watan that all the parts are "no larger than the size of an hand".

Families of the victims have arrived at the Cairo morgue to give DNA evidence which should help identify the deceased. Some have already started funerals for their loved ones.