All 224 on board, including 17 children were killed, when a Metrojet
flight from Sharm el-Sheikh bound for St Petersburg when the Airbus
A321 crashed into the Sinai desert.
Images of the wreckage show that the plane was almost completely destroyed.
The cause of the crash remains unknown and claims of responsibility
from Islamic State have been dismissed by Russian authorities.
Families of the passengers have gathered at St Petersburg airport as bodies begin to arrive back in Russia.
Mokhtar Awad, an analyst with the Center for American Progress, tells
the Guardian that the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility is quite
vague.
“It doesn’t state how they were able to ‘down’ the plane allegedly.
Even the most sophisticated of portable surface-to-air missiles cannot
reach that high an altitude and are only a threat during periods of
take-off or landing, but the plane had already climbed to its target
altitude (from what we know thus far) when it began to likely experience
technical failures.
The local affiliate, Wilayat Sinai, has been
under some pressure over the past few months and may have jumped the gun
on taking credit. Although there isn’t a precedent for such a
spectacular lie about something they claim to have done, Islamic State
itself has recently been embellishing more and more. For instance it
claimed that the recent prison raid by Kurdish and US special forces
were a total failure, when in fact video evidence surfaced showed them
freeing the hostages. So this may be an instance of the rooster taking
credit for the dawn.”
Russian aviation regulator Rosaviatsia said it has not yet found any reason to blame the crash of the Russian airliner in Egypt on a technical failure, an error by the crew or external actions, RIA Novosti reports.
Until there is reliable evidence about the circumstances of what
happened, there is no sense in putting forward and discussing any
versions.
The Guardian’s reporter in Cairo Jahd Khalil analyses the burgeoning relationship between Russia and Egypt.
Russians make up 19.7% of tourist arrivals to Egypt, the largest of
any single country and 1.7 million were forecast to arrive in 2015
alone.
Since President Sisi took power, relations between Russia and Egypt have grown closer and been lauded in Egyptian press.
Biltaeral agreements included developing nuclear power in Egypt and a $3.5 billion arms deal, as Egypt seeks to diversify its arms suppliers beyond the United States.
Egypt also welcomed Russia’s latest intervention in Syria to support
even as its Gulf allies, which have kept the Egyptian economy afloat
with aid, vehemently opposed the Russian intervention.
Islamic State claim 'not accurate' - Russia
Russia’s transport minister Maksim Sokolov has said that the claim Islamic State militants brought down the plane “can’t be considered accurate.”
Now in various media there is assorted information that the Russian
[plane]... was supposedly shot down by an anti-aircraft missile, fired
by terrorists.
This information can’t be considered accurate.
Shadi Bushra, reporting for the Guardian in Cairo, has also spoken to Mohamed Samir, Egypt’s army spokesman, who also refuted the claim.
They can put out whatever statements they want but there is no proof
at this point that terrorists were responsible for this plane crash.
We will know the true reasons when the civil aviation authority in
coordination with
Russian authorities completes its investigation.
But the army sees no authenticity to their claims or their video.
Egypt’s prosecutor general has agreed to allow a Russian government
agency to participate in investigating what caused the Russian passenger
plane to crash, according to state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram.
The North Sinai prosecution office has reportedly summoned air and
ground traffic control officials for questioning over the incident, and
ordered a technical team from the Civil Aviation Ministry to analyse the
contents of the plane’s black box.
Meanwhile, Russian investigators are searching the Moscow offices of Metrojet, the company that chartered the plane.
The Investigative Committee is questioning both Metrojet employees
and also the St Petersburg-based Brisco tour agency that had contracted
for the flight from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg, said
spokesman Vladimir Markin.
This is the statement from a group claiming to be speaking on behalf
of Islamic State, posted on their affiliate site, translated by our
correspondent in Cairo, Jahd Khalil. It offers no evidence that the group brought down the plane, apart from their word.
Breaking: Downing of Russian airplane, killing of more than 220 Russian crusaders on board.
Soldiers of the Caliphate were able to bring down a Russian plane
above Sinai Province with at least 220 Russian crusaders aboard.
They were all killed, praise be to God. O Russians, you and your
allies take note that you are not safe in Muslims lands or their skies.
The killing of dozens daily in Syria with bombs from your planes will
bring woe to you. Just as you are killing others, you too will be
killed, God willing.
Many experts have expressed scepticism that groups operating in Sinai
have the capacity to bring down an airline from the height it was
travelling.
Islamic State-linked group 'claims responsibility' for crash
A militant group affiliated to Islamic State in Egypt has claimed
responsibility for bringing down the Russian passenger plane as it flew
through Sinai peninsula on Saturday.
The claim was circulated by supporters on Twitter and also published
on the Aamaq news website, which has previously been used on a
semi-official basis by Islamic State to circulate propaganda.
There is no confirmation from any other sources that the plane
crashed as a result of terrorist activity - and Egyptian officials were
quick to rule that out as a cause of the crash earlier this morning.
A report in July by military expert IHS Janes
said Islamic State affiliate group Wilayat Sinai had propaganda videos
in which militants are seen with a type of man-portable air defence
systems (SA-18 Igla MANPADS), which can reach about 10,000 feet.
The airliner was said to be travelling at least 31,000 feet, before it made a steep descent as it crashed.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said on Saturday it was checking
fuel samples from the airliner’s last refuelling stop, in the Russian
city of Samara, news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Spokesman Vladimir Markin said investigators are questioning people
who were involved in preparing the aircraft and its crew and are
carrying out searches at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport where the airline
that operated the plane is based.
Passengers at St Petersburg airport on Saturday morning who had been
due to fly out to Egypt on holiday with Moscow-based tour operator
Brisco, have said their plane has failed to show up.
“Nobody came out to talk to us yet, we don’t know what plane we’ll be
on,” a passenger called Anzhelika told the Rossiya-24 channel.
“If it’s Kogalymavia, we don’t want to fly.”
No representative of the airline could be found at the airport and nobody at the company was answering the phones, AFP reported.
*Photos courtesy of ITAR/TASS, and AFP/Getty Images
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