EgyptAir 804: Flight recorders silent

Egyptian investigators have failed to extract any information from the badly-damaged memory chips of the crucial black boxes.

Defeated, Egypt is now sending both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder to the BEA in France in an effort to help download the data.

The BEA -- the French version of the NTSB -- are considered some the best in the world at analyzing this type of equipment.

In a statement released on Thursday, EgyptAir said the French will "carry out repair and removal of salt accumulations."

"Then (the black boxes will be sent) back to Cairo to perform data analysis at the labs of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The flight data recorder gathers 25 hours of technical data from the airplane's sensors, recording several thousand distinct pieces of information, including air speed, altitude, engine performance and wing positions.

The cockpit voice recorder captures sounds from the flight deck, including flight crew conversation, alarms and background noise that can help investigators understand what the flight crew was doing.

The black boxes offer the best clues to determining why the Airbus A320 crashed into the ocean, while en route from Paris to Cairo on May 19, with 66 people on board.

The flight was at 37,000 feet when it lost contact above the Mediterranean, shortly before the aircraft entered Egyptian airspace.

In the hours that followed the disappearance, Egyptian officials said it was far more likely that a terrorist attack brought down the plane, than a technical fault.

But they didn't elaborate, or present evidence for that claim.

To this day, there has been no claim of responsibility by any terrorist organization.

The black boxes were found when searchers scoured the Mediterranean Sea.

Both were recovered by the crew of the John Lethbridge, a privately owned deep-sea survey and recovery vehicle contracted by Egypt's government to aid in the search.

In Thursday's statement, EgyptAir said the vessel is continuing to search for wreckage and the victims' remains.

Egypt's military also spotting wreckage, personal belongings including an uninflated life vest, a seat, a purse, shoes, carpet, a scarf, parts of chairs and cushions and a sling bag. The EgyptAir label appeared on one piece of wreckage.

(CNN)