Crashed EgyptAir flight's cockpit voice recorder recovered, found damaged

The cockpit voice recorder is to be handed over to prosecution officials and investigators in Alexandria

The Egyptian Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee said on Thursday that the cockpit voice recorder of crashed EgyptAir flight MS804 has been recovered but is damaged.

"The device has been recovered in several stages as it was found damaged, but the vessel managed to salvage the part containing the memory unit, which is the most important in the voice recorder," Xinhua news agency quoted the investigation committee as saying in a statement.

EgyptAir Flight MS804, an Airbus A320, went missing from radar screens on May 19 en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 people on board, including 30 Egyptians and 15 French.

Later on, the Egyptian military announced the finding of some personal belongings of the victims and small pieces of the plane wreckage in the Mediterranean Sea 290 km north of Egypt's coastal city of Alexandria.

The cockpit voice recorder is to be handed to prosecution officials and investigators in Alexandria.