BOMB MAY TO BE BLAME

U. K. speculates on cause of crash

British Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said that a bomb may have brought down the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt on Saturday.

The statement from the usually cautious British government is the strongest indicator yet that terrorists may have been responsible for the crash of the Metrojet Airbus Group A321, which was carrying 224 people. So far there haven’t been any findings released by investigators suggesting whether a bomb, some other explosion or a structural failure caused the plane to break into pieces.

“While the investigation is still ongoing we cannot say categorically why the Russian jet crashed,” Cameron’s office said Wednesday. “But as more information has come to light we have become concerned the plane may have been brought down by an explosive device.”

Britain isn’t formally a party to the probe and the government statement didn’t say whether its actions are based on findings from the crash investigators or an interpretation of information already in the public domain. Egypt said Wednesday that the Airbus’s cockpit- voice recorder was damaged in the crash and that work is required to access its final few minutes. The flight- data device has been decoded and work will begin on that information shortly.

Earlier, Michael McCaul, chairman of the U. S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, said he wouldn’t rule out terrorism. He pointed to the Khorasan group, made up of alQaida members operating in Syria, which he said has been developing non- metallic improvised explosive devices that can avoid screening technology.

“One of my concerns about the Russian plane, given the Russian activity now in Syria, is that it possibly could have been one of these non- metallic IEDs,” McCaul said. “You can’t rule that out.”

Revised data covering the Metrojet’s final moments show it slowed suddenly and then plunged to the Earth at 480 km/ h, according to flight- tracking website FlightRadar24.