No evidence that bomb caused Metrojet plane crash: Russian agency

Daily News Egypt
2 Min Read
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (left) shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Novo-Ogaryovo residence, outside Moscow, on 13 February 2014 (AFP File Photo)

By Ahmed Abbas

Russia said there is no evidence that the Metrojet A321 plane in Sinai was downed by a bomb on board, reported the Russian official news agency TASS on Saturday.

“Russian specialists will request the French investigators and the Egyptian commission to provide confirmation of the onboard explosion identification,” a source inside the Russian mission at the special investigation commission was quoted as saying by TASS.

He also confirmed that the only evidence is “certain noises recorded by the cockpit voice recorder”. He stressed that it is too early “to say that they indicate an explosion” as the nature of that noise is still being assessed.

Russian President Vlamdir Putin had agreed to suspend all the Russian flights to Egypt based on advice from the Russian federal security service.

In a phone call between President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and his Russian counterpart, both sides agreed to increase their collaboration in aviation security to ensure to the safety of Russian tourists, according to a statement released by the Egyptian presidency.

Egypt and Russia also agreed to re- establish Russian flights “as soon as possible”.

The UK also halted all of its flights to Sharm El-Sheikh on concerns that the Russian flight was brought down by a bomb. The UK government may have based their decisions on exchanges between Jihadi groups about the bomb scenario, Reuters reported.

Share This Article
1 Comment