Investigators from various parties ....
and plenty of wreckage but still no definitive evidence of the catalyst
8 days later .......
There is no need, and no laws, that require air crash investigators to provide public evidence immediately upon discovery, of the reasons for an aircraft crashing.
There are numerous reasons why this initial evidence is kept secure until all the evidence is assembled .. not the least of which is political .. followed by security reasons, followed by a number of other reasons.
The media have advised that there is overwhelming suspicion .. obviously backed by initial evidence .. that the aircraft was brought down by a small bomb planted in one passengers luggage.
Due to this overwhelming suspicion, numerous airlines have now been proactive in taking sensible steps to protect their aircraft, their pax and their reputations.
KLM has now advised it will carry out its own luggage security screening at SSH, to ensure proper standards of luggage security.
Egypt is now paying the price for failing to ensure that airport and luggage security levels were high .. and even higher than normally required .. in an area where terrorists have been active for an extended period of time.
It has been reported that the help of the FBI is being sought by the assembled crash investigators, with regard to explosives forensics skills, to assist the investigation.
It is not unreasonable to assume that the explosive used was in liquid form, hidden in unremarkable-looking bottles in luggage, and this process would simply confirm the standard recent MO of the terrorists, and to ensure a lack of security forces scrutiny, by the unremarkable appearance of the bottles not posing as a potential threat.
This process would also ensure that any explosive traces left were difficult to find, difficult to easily see, and would need high-level forensic examination to confirm what explosive was used, and where, and how it was detonated.