Almost ten years after the crash of EgyptAir flight MS804, the French judiciary appears to be drawing a line. According to French media reports, the Paris public prosecutor’s office is calling for a so-called non-lieu — that is, the dismissal of proceedings without a criminal trial. For the relatives of the 66 victims, this turn feels like a punch in the gut.
The Airbus A320 crashed over the Mediterranean on 19 May 2016 while en route from Paris to Cairo. No one survived. Among the victims were 15 French nationals. Since then the case has been followed not only by aviation experts and investigators, but above all by families hoping for answers. And for accountability.
Many signs now indicate that this hope is fading into legal fog.
The prosecution argues that no criminally relevant errors can be proven — at least none that go beyond possible failings of deceased crew members. A case against the airline EgyptAir thus appears unlikely. The final decision still rests with the examining judges, but the prosecutor’s request carries weight.
For the families of the victims this sounds like the bitter echo of many aviation disasters: years full of expert reports, technical analyses and conflicting theories — but in the end no one on the dock.
Particularly contentious remains the question of the cause of a fire on board.
French investigators and the BEA, the French air accident investigation authority, argued for years for the theory of a fire in the cockpit. Focus was on oxygen systems and the possibility of an oxygen-enhanced fire. The issue was apparently taken seriously enough internally that the BEA published a safety study on oxygen-fed cockpit fires.
Egyptian authorities, by contrast, painted a different picture. Their final report from 2024 describes an explosion in the area of the forward galley, followed by fire and smoke. Two countries, two scenarios, no shared truth — that almost serves as a metaphor for the whole case.
Legally, a non-lieu may seem understandable. Criminal law requires solid evidence, not speculation. But on a human level this development leaves a sour aftertaste. The longer proceedings drag on, the more the line between clarification and fatigue often shifts. Ten years is an eternity in aviation.
And yet much remains unresolved.
The relatives now speak of “sloppy justice”. A harsh accusation, but one born of years of frustration. Those who wait almost a decade for clarity eventually expect more than technical formulations and legal niceties. Especially in disasters of international significance, one quickly gets the impression that responsibility slips away between authorities, states and companies like sand through the fingers.
Perhaps therein lies the true tragedy of this case: not only the crash itself, but the feeling that in the end there will be no clear answer. No verdict. No trial. No definitive full stop.
Only silence over the Mediterranean.