Yesterday, an Egyptian forensic official stated that the human remains retrieved from the crash site of EgyptAir flight MS 804 suggests an explosion on board led to the crash. The official who spoke off record to the Associated Press (AP) said the human remains brought to Cairo were so small that the only logical explanation for that would be an explosion or a blast from within the plane.

Although the report seem to bolster previous data reports of smoke alerts aboard the plane before it crashed, and appeared logical at the time, Hesham Abdelhamid, the head of Egypt’s forensics authority came forward a few hours later to dismiss the claims made by the unnamed official. According to news agency, MENA, Abdelhamid described the report as “completely false.”

“Everything published about this matter is completely false, and mere assumptions that did not come from the forensics authority,” he said. Reuters also reported that Egypt’s forensic head had called the assessment “mere assumptions,” adding that it was too early to draw conclusions.

So far, eighteen loads of debris from the wreckage have been recovered, but there are only a few scraps of data available to draw conclusions about the cause of the crash. In addition, both Greece and Egypt have different accounts of the plane’s last minutes. While Greek air traffic controllers say the flight picked up sharp swings and suffered a decline in altitude before going off the radar, air traffic controllers in Egypt say there was neither a swerve nor a plunge in altitude of the plane.

EgyptAir Flight No. MS 804 was reported missing early last Thursday morning after it suddenly disappeared off the radar tracking system. By Friday, its parts of its wreckage was found in the Mediterranean, 295 kilometres north of the coastal city of Alexandria. Several theories surround the crash of MS 804, but with the black boxes yet to be found, it remains a mystery what could have gone wrong. For all that’s known, it could take weeks, or months to unravel this mystery. Currently, investigations and international search efforts are underway.