Times of Oman

Flight data reveals Russian jet not struck from outside

Pilot of the plane that crashed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula made no distress call, says investigat­or as the first bodies arrived in Russia

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CAIRO: The Russian plane that crashed in Egypt was not struck from the outside and the pilot did not make a distress call before it disappeare­d from radar, a source in the committee analysing the flight recorders said on Monday.

The source declined to give more details but based his comments on the preliminar­y examinatio­n of the black boxes recovered from the Airbus A321 which crashed in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday killing all 224 people on board.

Black boxes

A civil aviation source said only that Egyptian investigat­ors aided by Russian and French experts had not yet finished examining the black boxes. Russian officials have said the plane, carrying holidaymak­ers from the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh to St Petersburg, likely broke up in mid-air but said it was too early to say what caused it to crash. The first bodies recovered from the wreckage arrived on board a Russian government plane at St Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport, where grieving Russians left piles of flowers.

A Reuters photograph­er saw a white lorry leaving the airport, escorted by police cars, heading for a St Petersburg morgue, where the bodies were to be identified.

Russian news agencies said the plane carried 144 bodies and a second government plane was due to leave Cairo on Monday evening.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had declared Sunday a national day of mourning, said on Monday the crash was a great tragedy. “Without any doubt everything should be done so that an objective picture of what happened is created,” Putin said in comments cited by ITAR-TASS. “So that we know what happened.”

When asked if a terrorist attack could be to blame, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no theory could yet be ruled out.

An Egyptian militant group affiliated with IS said on Saturday it brought down the plane “in response to Russian air strikes that killed hundreds on Syrian land”. Russia’s transport minister dismissed the claim, saying it “can’t be considered accurate”.

Alexander Smirnov, deputy general director of airline Kogalymavi­a, which operated the plane under the brand name Metrojet, said only a “technical or physical action” could have caused the aircraft to break up in the air. “The plane was in excellent condition,” Smirnov told a news conference in Moscow. “We rule out a technical fault and any mistake by the crew.”

His comments came amid growing evidence that the plane and its crew had passed the necessary safety and medical tests, and a Russian inspection of its fuel found that it met requiremen­ts.

The airline said both engines were inspected in Moscow on October 26 and no problems were found while a previous tail strike had been fully repaired and would not have affected safety.

The aircraft had received a certificat­e of airworthin­ess earlier this year from regulators in Ireland, where it was registered.

Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, launched air raids against opposition groups in Syria including IS on September 30.

IS, the hardline group that controls swathes of Iraq and Syria, has called for war against both Russia and the United States in response to their air strikes in Syria.

Sinai is the scene of an insurgency by militants close to IS who have killed hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police and have also attacked Western targets in recent months.

However, militants in the area are not believed to have missiles capable of hitting a plane at 30,000 feet. IS websites have in the past claimed responsibi­lity for actions that have not been conclusive­ly attributed to them. Those on board the flight included 214 Russians, at least three Ukrainians and one Belarusian, most returning from the Red Sea, popular with Russians seeking winter sun. The A321 is a medium-haul jet in service since 1994, with more than 1,100 in operation worldwide and a good safety record.

 ?? – Reuters ?? PAYING TRIBUTES: A woman places flowers in front of the portraits of crew members of the crashed Airbus A321 plane, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavi­a, in the company’s office in Moscow, on Monday.
– Reuters PAYING TRIBUTES: A woman places flowers in front of the portraits of crew members of the crashed Airbus A321 plane, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavi­a, in the company’s office in Moscow, on Monday.
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