Russian plane crash: Explosion heard on black boxes
The remains of a Russian airliner at the crash site in al-Hasanah area in El Arish city, north Egypt,
The sound of an explosion could be heard on the black boxes recovered from a Russian plane that crashed over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, according to an investigator who had access to them.
According to the investigator, the explosion was not consistent with an engine failure, French TV station France 2 reported.
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Investigators have returned to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula where a Russian airliner crashed over the weekend.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin halted all Russian flights to Egypt amid growing evidence a bomb downed a St Petersburg-bound charter plane that crashed killing all 224 people aboard.
"This is about the safety of our citizens, making sure they have an adequate level of security," Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Friday on a conference call.
A group affiliated with Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the crash of the Airbus A321 operated by a Russian carrier on Saturday bringing holidaymakers home from a resort on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
All 224 people on board were killed in what the militants described as revenge for Russian air strikes in Syria that began more than a month ago.
While no official investigation has confirmed that claim of responsibility, countries have been cancelling flights and announcing new precautions, leaving tens of thousands of European and Russian tourists stranded in Red Sea resorts.
British and US spies intercepted "chatter" from suspected militants as well as internal communication about the incident from one other government that suggested a bomb, possibly hidden in luggage in the hold, had downed the airliner, Western intelligence sources said.
The intelligence sources, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity, said the evidence was not categorical and there was still no hard forensic or scientific evidence to support the bomb theory.
"We still cannot be categorical but there is a distinct and credible possibility that there was a bomb," one source said.
- brisbanetimes.com.au
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