Russian plane crash: state of bodies suggests mid-air explosion

Cockpit recordings reveal "uncharacteristic sounds" in final moments of disaster in Sinai which killed 224 people. Here's how we reported the day's events
• Crew did not have time to send a distress signal, reports suggest


Splits have emerged between Russia and Egypt as Cairo rejected Russian investigators’ conclusion that a Metrojet airliner had broken up in mid-air before crashing.
Four days into the investigation into the fate of Flight 7K9268, the Egyptian government said there was no evidence to support claims by Russian officials that the Airbus A321 “broke up in the air”. It is the most public rift to date between the two governments, which initially both strongly suggested the aircraft had been brought down by a technical fault, only to concede later that foul play was a possibility.
As investigators from both countries began examining the plane’s black boxes, the Russian news agency Interfax reported that a cockpit recorder had picked up sounds of chaos in the flight’s final moments.
A woman and child stand at an entrance of Pulkovo airport during a day of national mourning for the victims of the plane crash, outside St. Petersburg, Russia Photo: AP
"Judging by the recording, a situation onboard developed suddenly and unexpectedly for the crew, and as a result the pilots did not manage to send a distress signal," a source said.
An Egyptian doctor who examined around half of the 224 bodies told The Telegraph that about one in five of the corpses had been badly burned in the moments before death.
The finding suggests that a fire broke out in the cabin while the plane was still the air but the doctor was not able to firmly conclude what caused the fire.

A woman cries after laying flowers at the memorial stone with the word Leningrad at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside Moscow's Kremlin Wall in Moscow, Russia. Photo: AP
Meanwhile, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that speculation the flight had been brought down by the Islamic State (Isil) was "false propaganda" intended to damage Egypt's image.
A spokesman for Russian president Vladimir Putin said there was no evidence of terrorism and it was "inappropriate" to speculate on whether the flight may have been downed in revenge for Russia's intervention in Syria.
US intelligence said their satellites had detected a mid-air flash as the aircraft went down but were able to rule out a missile strike because there was no tell-tale heat trail coming from the ground.
People leave a crematorium, where identification of plane crash victims is taking place, in St.Petersburg, Russia Photo: APThe flash could be the explosion of a bomb going off but could also be a mechanical breakdown, like an fuel tank erupting, the American officials said.
Security has been stepped up at Sharm el-Sheikh airport, where the Metrojet flight took from 23 minutes before being lost to radar.
Long queues waited at a security check but British tourists said they did not mind as long as it kept them safe. "I'd rather to wait for careful check​ and return back home safely and not have my plane crashed." said Nick Matthews.
People react, at an entrance of Pulkovo airport during a day of national mourning for the victims of the plane crash, outside St. Petersburg, Russia Photo: AP
Metrojet flights to and from Moscow and Nijni Novgorod continued out of Sharm el-Sheikh despite the questions surrounding Flight 7K9268.
In St Petersburg, a second government aircraft carrying human remains, personal belongings, and documents recovered from the crash site arrived early Tuesday morning.
“As of today 140 bodies and more than 100 body parts have been brought to St Petersburg,” said Alexei Smirnov, the head of the national emergency response centre in Moscow.
Nineteen victims had been identified by relatives by yesterday evening, officials said in a briefing. Victims so far identified by relatives include an eight-year old child from the town of Novgorod and Alexander Kopylov, the deputy mayor of the city of Pskov.
The remains have been sent to the morgue at the city’s main crematorium for identification and examination by forensic pathologists before being released to families for burial.
Officials have said it could take weeks to fully identify all 244 victims, and DNA samples were sent to Moscow on Tuesday to held identify some of the most badly damaged remains.

18.25

MetroJet continues to fly to Sharm El Sheikh

Magdy Samaan reports that MetroJet is continuing the fly the route on which the plane crashed.
One flight, number 7K 9245 coming from Moscow, was scheduled to arrive to Sharm El Sheikh airport at 19:45 but it was delayed to 23:30.
According to the departure schedule of Moscow airport the flight was scheduled to take off at 17:15. The air craft is an Airbus 321, the same as the crashed plane.
Sharm El Sheikh Photo: Fotolia/AP
A source with the tourism company handling the tourists arriving to Sharm El Sheikh said that the Russian Aviation authorities were making extra security checks for MetroJet flights which take an extra 1-2 hours.
According the same source, another Metrojet flight arrived to Sharm El Sheikh this morning. The flight number is 7K 9251 coming from the Russian city of Nijni Novgorod.
Several calls to the airline's press service for comment went unanswered on Tuesday

17.30

Putin discusses support for families

Georgy Poltavchenko, the governor of St Petersburg, has been in Moscow to discuss the response to the crisis - and in particular financial support for relatives - with Vladimir Putin,Roland Oliphant reports.
In a transcript of a Kremlin meeting on social spending, Mr Putin thanked the people of St Petersburg for their “sincere sympathy for the great sorrow [of the bereaved],” and asked Mr Poltavchenko to make sure relatives needs are looked after.
Earlier Mr Poltavchenko said the city government would pay one million rubles - about £10,000 - in additional compensation to the family of each victim of the disaster.
Russia's emergency situations top officials arrive for a conference call with representatives of Egypt and St. Petersburg led by Russia's emergency situations minister Vladimir Puchkov to discuss the plane crash in Egypt, in Moscow, Russia Photo: AP
But arrangements for the routine compensation paid by the state insurance firm, however, has been criticised as paltry by campaigners demanding Russia ratify international treaties governing air transport.
Vitaly Yusko, the founder of a pressure group formed by relatives of victims of a 2006 air crash, said the two million rubles (£20,000) compensation on offer is a fraction of what the relatives would be entitled to if Russia had ratified the 1999 Montreal convention.
“On International flights, in agreement with the norms of the European commission, insurance payments in the event of a passenger’s death are currently in excess of 22 million rubles,” Mr Yuskov told St Petersburg news site fontanka.ru.
Russia’s ministry of transport said it hopes the Montreal convention will be brought into force in Russia before the end of the year.

16:30

Russian and Egyptian narratives of the crash diverging

Our correspondent Raf Sanchez, in Cairo, writes:
It has been interesting watching the Egyptian and Russian government's narratives diverge. In the hours after the crash they were singing from the same hymn sheet: it looked like a mechanical issue and there was no evidence of terrorism.
But in the days since they've come apart: Russian investigators on the scene said it was clear that the plane had broken up in mid-air - which would be consistent with an onboard explosion.
The Egyptians, who are eager to play down any talk of Isil involvement, are saying that has not yet been proven and that everyone should wait until a final report is published.

15:48

State of bodily remains recovered suggests on-board explosion

Our correspondent Roland Oliphant, in St Petersburg, writes:
The state of some of the bodies retrieved from the crash site could suggest an on-board explosion, Russia's state news agency reported, citing an anonymous Egyptian medical official.
"The large number of separate body fragments could indicate that a strong explosion occurred onboard before the aircraft hit the ground," the source told RIA Novosti.
People leave a crematorium, where identification of plane crash victims is taking place in St.Petersburg Photo: Reuters
Russia's Emergency situations ministry said on Tuesday morning that the first nine of 224 victims had been identified by relatives at St Petersburg's main morgue, and that the process was likely to take days more.
While officials have been reluctant to talk about the condition of the bodies, St Petersburg's governor has said DNA expertise may be needed to identify some remains, indicating many were badly damaged.
People walk at a compound where relatives of those killed in an air crash in Egypt are gathering for identification in St. Petersburg Photo: Reuters
About 200 body fragments are believed to have been delivered to the morgue at St Petersburg's main crematorium, of which morticians have so far been able to assemble about 150 bodies, Russian media reported.
Two flights carrying the remains of victims landed in St Petersburg on Monday and Tuesday. A third flight may arrive on Wednesday.


15:43

Is it safe to travel to the Sinai?

Sharm El-Sheikh welcomes the majority of the 900,000 or so Britons that visit Egypt each year. It is renowned for its strict security procedures – with numerous checkpoints, barricades and CCTV cameras, as well as regular vehicle screenings.
The Foreign Office (FCO) has updated its advice to include a reference to the plane crash, but otherwise it still proclaims Sharm safe.
It has for some time advised against all travel to the North Sinai, “due to the significant increase in criminal activity and continued terrorist attacks on police and security services”. The FCO also advises against all but essential travel to South Sinai, excluding "areas within the Sharm el Sheikh perimeter barrier, which includes the airport and the resorts of Sharm el Maya, Hadaba, Naama Bay, Sharks Bay and Nabq".

Are planes still flying over Sinai? Lufthansa and Air France are understood to have stopped flying over Sinai since the incident, however, EasyJet, Monarch and BA said they had been previously avoiding the region as a matter of course.
Data from flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 shows planes navigating around the peninsula.
Data from FlightRadar24 shows planes avoiding North Sinai Photo: FlightRadar24.com


14:50

Images of grief in Russia

A woman cries after laying flowers at the memorial stone with the word Leningrad at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside Moscow's Kremlin Wall in Moscow, Russia. Photo: AP

A man makes the sign of the cross in front of the monument of the Leningrad city heroes at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin, where people lay flowers to commemorate the victims of the Russian MetroJet Airbus A321 accident, in Moscow, Russia. Photo: EPA
Floral tributes, toys and candles are photographed at an entrance of Pulkovo airport during a day of national mourning for the victims of the plane crash, outside St. Petersburg, Russia Photo: AP


14:08

Egypt: no evidence that plane broke up in mid-air

Egypt's civil aviation ministry has said there were no facts to substantiate assertions by Russian officials that the Russian airliner that crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Saturday broke up in mid-air.
The spokesman for the ministry, Mohamed Rahmi, has told Reuters that no distress call had been received before the crash - cofirming reports earlier from Russian news agencies.
"No communication from the pilot was recorded at the navigation centres requesting anything," he told Reuters.
The investigating team is made up of experts from Russia, Ireland (where the plane was registered) and Airbus, the plane manufacturer, and led by Egypt.
The tail section of the Russian aircraft which crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula near El Arish city on Saturday Photo: Corbis
It returned to the crash site this morning.
The spokesman said that once investigations at the site are completed, they would focus on analysing the contents of the black box flight recorders.
Russian emergency situations minister Vladimir Puchkov said the site "should be studied centimeter by centimeter."
"If you need to sift through the sand where the remains or pieces of the fuselage could be, do it," he said.
"There are no terrorism activities at the area of the crash." Sameeh Bashadi, the ex chief of security in North Sinai, told the Telegraph by phone, refusing to give more information.


13:51

Dispatch from the Sinai

Our correspondent Magdy Samaan, in Sharm El-Sheikh, writes:
The area where Flight 7K9268 crashed is in the north-east of Sinai, close to the Egyptian border with Israel.
Russian emergency services personnel working at the crash site in Sinai Photo: Dmitriy Kiselev/EPA
It is a quiet place, according to Nassrallah Mohamed, the head of Nakhl municipality Council. "The inhabitants of the area are Bedouins work in herding and there is no terrorism activities there," Mr Mohamed said.
But it is also under a tight grip by security services. The bedouins and army act in co-operation, but some locals are unhappy about it.

One man from Bee'r al Abd, the town near Arish, and the crash site, told the Telegraph how the security services demolished his house as they wanted to widen the road, and he had no chance to even take his belongings.
"When I went to talk with the security guy to ask to take my belongings before demolishing the house, he pointed his gun at me and didn't give a chance even to talk," he said.
The security tension and clashes between the army and Islamic militants are focused in the north-east part of Sinai between Arish city and Rafah, but the rest of Sinai is relatively safe.


13:09

Egypt demands end to speculation on cause of crash

Our correspondent Raf Sanchez, in Cairo, writes:
The Egyptian minister for civil aviation, Hossam Kamal, has just put out a long statement that says little but essentially demands an end to speculation about why the plane crashed.
"He pointed out that all the speculation about the cause of the accident at this stage is premature and not dependent on any concrete evidence or data," the statement said.
Russian emergency services personnel and Egyptian servicemen working at the crash site of a A321 Russian airliner in Wadi al-Zolomat, a mountainous area of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula Photo: AFP
The ministry says it hopes to end its field work at the site of the crash this evening and then the focus will turn to analysing the debris and, most importantly, gaining data from the black box.
Mr Kamal, who is himself a pilot, stressed that it will "take some time" before any final report can be issued.

13:04

Summary of today's events

A transcript of cockpit recordings obtained by Russian news agency Interfax suggest that there were "sounds uncharacteristic of routine flight", and the crew did not send a distress signal.
A source said: "Judging by the recording, a situation on board developed suddenly and unexpectedly for the crew, and as a result the pilots did not manage to send a distress signal".
Russian news service Tass cited a source saying that "elements that were not part of the plane" were found at the crash site. They are being analysed - whether that is from a bomb or simply some luggage is unclear.
Russian emergency services personnel working at the crash site of a A321 Russian airliner in Sinai Photo: EPA
Meanwhile, the black boxes continue to be analysed. 140 bodies and 100 body parts have been brought back so far, and another plane will bring remains back to St Petersburg tomorrow.
So far, ten people have been identified by family members.
Theories abound of exactly what happened to the plane. Egyptian President Sisi dismissed theories in an interview with the BBC that Isil brought down the flight as "propaganda" and insists the security services are in "full control" of the area.
A US defence official told NBC that an American satellite picked up heat flashes around the time of the plane crash in the Sinai. They added that there was no missile trail - so puts doubt on the theory of the plane being downed by a surface-to-air missile.

10:48

The situation in Sinai

The American embassy in Egypt has banned its staff from travelling to the North Sinai, where the plane crashed.

It said that this was a precautionary measure, pending the outcome of the investigation into the disaster.
The British foreign office has said that the North Sinai area is out of bounds for all citizens - but travelling to areas in the South, for example Sharm el-Sheikh, is safe.

Louisa Loveluck, our Middle East reporter, writes:
Holding no major towns, Sinai Province relies on cat-and-mouse tactics against the much stronger Egyptian military. Car bombs and drive-by attacks have killed hundreds of security personnel.

The group has benefited from the army’s response, which has at times resembled a scorched earth policy, alienating residents and increasing jihadist sympathies. Checkpoints carve the roads across Sinai's northern strip, and cars approaching security installations risk being shot on sight.
If the jihadists’ claim to have downed the plane proves false, it will not be the first time their statements have stretched the truth. Sinai Province’s account of a July 1 battle with the army in the town of Sheikh Zuwaid was vastly overblown. Question marks also hang over the group’s claim to have murdered William Henderson, a US oil worker killed in the Western Desert last year.


10:02

Investigators analyse plane's black boxes

Russian authorities confirmed yesterday that the plane's two black boxes are in good condition.

What is a black box?

A 'black box' actually consists of two boxes – a cockpit voice recorder and a data recorder. The flight data recorder records a stream of flight information, while the cockpit voice recorder stores conversations and other noises made in the cockpit.
Servicemen gather passengers' belongings on the crash site of the Airbus A321 Photo: EPA

Each of the boxes is about the size of a shoe box and weighs around 10kg. They are made out of aluminium, and are designed to withstand massive impact, fire or high pressure. Although the original flight recorders were painted black, the colour was changed to orange to make them easier to find by investigators.


09:10

Ten bodies identified so far

Ten bodies have so far been identified by their families. Alexei Smirnov of the Russian emergency situations ministry said that a total of 140 bodies and more than 100 body parts were delivered to St. Petersburg on two government planes on yesterday and today and that a third plane is expected to bring more remains later today.
People react, at an entrance of Pulkovo airport during a day of national mourning for the victims of the plane crash, outside St. Petersburg
In Egypt, the U.S. Embassy has instructed its staff not to travel anywhere in the Sinai Peninsula pending the outcome of the investigation into the crash as a "precautionary measure."


08:56

Heat flash over Sinai picked up by US satellite

A US defence official told NBC that an American satellite picked up heat flashes around the time of the plane crash in the Sinai. They added that there was no missile trail - so puts doubt on the theory of the plane being downed by a surface-to-air missile.
But the heat flash could be the sign of a bomb or exploding fuel tank within the plane.


08:47

'Elements that were not part of plane' found at crash site

Our correspondent Roland Oliphant in St Petersburg writes:
Russian news service Tass cites a source saying "elements that were not part of the plane" were found at the crash site.
"They have been sent for analysis," the agency's source said.
If true, such fragments could be something from passenger's or crew's personal effects, unrelated debris already on the ground where the aircraft crashed, or - and this is the million dollar question - fragments of a bomb or the "external impact" that owners Metrojet say brought the aircraft down.


08.38

Egyptian President rubbishes theories of Isil bringing down flight

Raf Sanchez in Cairo writes:
Egyptian President Sisi has done an interview with the BBC here where he dismissed theories that Isil brought down the flight as "propaganda" and insists the security services are in "full control" of the area.
"When there is propaganda that it crashed because of Isis [Isil], this is one way to damage the stability and security of Egypt and the image of Egypt," Sisi said.
"Believe me, the situation in Sinai - especially in this limited area - is under our full control," he added. "All those interested in the matter are welcome to participate in the investigation."


08:27

Cockpit recordings suggest pilots did not manage to send distress signal after sudden situation developed

Russia's Interfax news service has seen a transcript of the cockpit recordings.
The crew had a routine exchange with air traffic controllers four minutes before the aircraft vanished from radar screens, and they did not mention anything unusual or any other object near the aircraft.
People stand at an entrance of Pulkovo airport during a day of national mourning for the victims of the plane crash, outside St. Petersburg
"Sounds uncharacteristic of routine flight were recorded preceding the moment that the aircraft disappeared from radar screens."
The crew did not send any distress signal, the source said.
"Judging by the recording, a situation on board developed suddenly and unexpectedly for the crew, and as a result the pilots did not manage to send a distress signal," the source added.

08:22

Summary

Roland Oliphant in St Petersburg and Raf Sanchez in Cairo
Suspicions that foul play or terrorism caused the passenger jet crash in Egypt are growing after the Russian airline's owners said the plane could only have been brought down by “external factors”.
"We rule out a technical fault of the plane or a pilot error," Alexander Smirnov, deputy general director of Metrojet, told a news conference in Moscow.
The claim, which appears to support the theory that the Airbus was destroyed by terrorists, was immediately rebuffed by Egyptian investigators as “speculation” and came as fresh allegations of mismanagement drew the company’s safety record into question.
Flight 9268 to St Petersburg crashed in Egypt’s Sinai peninsular shortly after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday morning.
• Could an Isil bomb have caused the Russian plane to crash in Sinai?
All 224 crew and passengers, many of them holidaymakers from St Petersburg, were killed in the worst single disaster in Russian aviation history.
Russian investigators stand near debris, luggage and personal effects of passengers a day after a passenger jet bound for St. Petersburg in Russia crashed in Hassana, Egypt Photo: AP
In his first public comments on the disaster, Vladimir Putin said the crash was a “dreadful tragedy” and calling for a “fully objective” investigation.
"I would like to once again express my condolences to the families and relatives of the victims," Mr Putin said at a meeting with Maksim Sokolov, the Russian transport minister and the head of the Russian commission investigating the causes of the crash. "In our hearts and souls we are with you."
"Without any doubt everything should be done so that an objective picture of what happened is created, so that we know what happened,” he added.
Debris from the wreckage in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula Photo: Magdy Saaman/The Telegraph
Mr Putin did not address mounting speculation about the cause of the disaster, and the Kremlin said separately that it would be “improper” to comment before investigators have reported.
“No possibility can be excluded at this stage,” said Dmitry Peskov, Mr Putin’s spokesman. “Articulating any kind of preliminary guess, any kind of opinion or statement without basis, would be wrong.”

Earlier in the day, the head of Metrojet, the company that operated the aircraft, moved to rule out any internal malfunction or pilot error. "The only possible could be a purely mechanical external impact," Alexander Smirnov, the company’s deputy director told a news conference in Moscow.
Debris from the wreckage in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula Photo: Magdy Saaman/The Telegraph
When pressed for more details about the type of impact and what could have caused it, Mr Smirnov refused to discuss further details, citing the ongoing investigation.
Asked if the plane could have been brought down by a terror attack, he said only that "anything was possible.”
The Egyptian government immediately pushed back, saying that it would not stoop to commenting on “speculation.”
Abdel Hamid, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation ministry said that an "external factors" could mean many things "not only a bomb or a terrorist attack”.
There is potential for Cairo and Moscow to argue over the outcome of the investigation because of the potential impacts of the findings.
A successful and devastating terrorist attack on tourists could prove a major embarrassment and disastrous for the Egyptian travel industry, while for Russia mechanical or human failure would raise difficult questions about the state of the national aviation industry, while a finding of terrorism could rally the public behind the air war against Islamists in Syria.
Earlier in the day, the Russian newspaper Kommersant quoted anonymous aviation experts as saying the damage suffered by the Airbus A321 suggested it may have been destroyed by “explosive decompression of the fuselage.”
Experts said such a decompression could have been caused by stress-cracks in the fuselage, the external impact of flying objects - possibly including fragments of a malfunctioning engine - or an on-board explosion, possibly indicating a Lockerbie-style bomb attack.
An affiliate of the Isil terror group in the Sinai peninsular has claimed responsibility for bringing down the plane, but US officials have dismissed the group’s claim as not credible.
Victims of the Russian plane crash in Sinai(From top left):Anastasia Bogdanova, Anton Bogdanov, Alena Moiseeva, Diana Golenkova, Maria Ivleva,Aleksandra Illarionova, Leonid Gordin, Aleksandra Chernova, (from bottom left)Aleksei and Tatiana Gromov, their 10-month-old baby Darina Gromov, Valeria Kantcerova, Nina Golubeva, Vera Gerasina, Victor Anisimov and (bottom right) Svetlana Dudochkina. Photo: Instagram/ Tatyana Gromova/east2westnews/Wil​l Stewart
Jim Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, said there is “no direct evidence of terrorist involvement yet.”
Asked whether Isil could shoot down an aircraft, he said, “it’s unlikely but I wouldn’t rule it out.”
While insurgents in Sinai are believed to have shoulder-launched anti-aircraft rockets, or MANPADS, Isil is not known to possess any sophisticated ground-to-air missile system capable shooting down an aircraft at an airliner’s cruising altitude.


Regular travellers to the area interviewed by the Telegraph said security at Sharm el-Sheik airport is generally tight, and that it would be extremely difficult for terrorists to smuggle an explosive device on board.
Meanwhile, it emerged that Metrojet owes its staff two months in unpaid wages and has suffered at least two serious accidents in the past five years.
Kogalymavia, the legal entity that owns the Metrojet brand name, owes its employees up to 70million rubles (about £70,000) in arrears, Alexander Snagovsky, the company’s general director, said.
The family of Sergei Trykhachyov, the co-pilot on 7K9268, said the last monthly wage he received was for July.

In 2010, one of Kogalymavia's Tupolev planes leased to an Iranian carrier made a hard landing and broke up and caught fire, injuring 46 passengers.
In 2011, three people died after one of its Tupolevs caught fire on the runway in the Russian Far North on New Year's Day.
Kogalymavia stopped flying Tupolevs later that year and in 2012, it rebranded itself as Metrojet.
Russian Emergencies Ministry aircraft carrying the bodies and fragments of 144 passengers landed in St Petersburg early on Monday morning.
A second flight carrying the bodies of remaining victims, as well as personal belongings recovered from the crash site, was expected to leave Egypt late last night.
The bodies have been moved to the city’s largest morgue, where they are undergoing examination and formal identification before being handed over to relatives for burial.
Flags remained at half mast across St Petersburg on Monday, after the city government extended the formal period of mourning until Tuesday.
Georgy Poltavchenko, the governor of St Petersburg, said his administration would pay £10,000 compensation to the families of each victim, regardless of where they lived, and raised the possibility of a ceremonial burial at a specially created memorial site.


Alexander Karavayev, whose partner Daria Schiller, 32, died in the crash, was one of several relatives to post portraits of the victims at the foot of the Alexander Column in Palace Square, one of St Petersburg's most important landmarks, on Monday.
Speaking as the sun set on the square, Mr Karavayev said he was still in shock at losing his partner of five years.
“I was at the airport to meet her on Saturday morning. I hadn’t seen her since the 15th of October when I dropped her off there. Then the flight vanished from the arrivals board. And a little bit later we were told that something had happened to it,” he said.
“So I went outside, I just had no idea what to do. Then later the list of passengers was released. She’d been travelling with a friend. They were both on it,” he said.


08:00

Should we believe the Isil affiliate?

While the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for downing the plane, bringing down a passenger jet would mark a significant departure for the Isil affiliate in the region reportsLouisa Loveluck.
Although it bears the same name as the group terrorising Iraq and Syria, Egypt’s Isil affiliate - Sinai Province - remains a guerilla force and is largely confined to an impoverished patch of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, some 380 miles from Sharm el-Sheikh’s manicured beaches,
It has largely avoided tourist targets to date, focusing its firepower on neighbouring Israel and the Egyptian security forces.
Holding no major towns, Sinai Province relies on cat-and-mouse tactics against the much stronger Egyptian military. Car bombs and drive-by attacks have killed hundreds of security personnel.
Egyptians gather at the scene following a bombing that struck a main police station in el-Arish, Sinai, last April Photo: Muhamed Sabry/AP
The group has benefited from the army’s response, which has at times resembled a scorched earth policy, alienating residents and increasing jihadist sympathies. Checkpoints carve the roads across Sinai's northern strip, and cars approaching security installations risk being shot on sight.
If the jihadists’ claim to have downed the plane proves false, it will not be the first time their statements have stretched the truth. Sinai Province’s account of a July 1 battle with the army in the town of Sheikh Zuwaid was vastly overblown. Question marks also hang over the group’s claim to have murdered William Henderson, a US oil worker killed in the Western Desert last year.


07:30

Flight Radar data shows the 'final moments' of the doomed airliner

Flight 7K9268 lurched up and down several times in the final moments before it lost contact with the ground, according to data from the Flight Radar 24 tracking site.
The Airbus 321 climbed nearly 3,000 feet in three seconds before falling another 3,000 feet a few seconds later, the altitude data shows. It repeated the abrupt rise and fall a second time before it was lost to radar.
The records from the Sweden-based Flight Radar 24 also show the aircraft rapidly losing speed in its last minute. This data is usually very reliable, but can sometimes be affected by an erroneous message.
Alexander Smirnov, a top official at Metrojet, says its plane dropped 300 kph (186 mph) in speed and 1.5 kilometers (about 5,000 feet) in altitude one minute before it crashed into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
The flight was at a cruising speed of just over 407 knots (468 miles per hour) at the beginning of the data set. Thirty seconds later the speed had fallen to just 62 knots (70 miles per hour) - far too slow for a plane that size to remain airborne.
Dr Stephen Wright, who teaches aviation at the University of Leeds, pointed to the possibility of a "wayward act" which may have caused the sudden end of data transmission - and crash.
"Looking at the numbers, it's confusing to me", he said. "If there was a catastrophic failure due to a wayward act that would cause significant damage and the aircraft could break up in flight."
The sudden climb "would suggest it hit really terrible weather, an updraft, clear air turbulence. Those kinds of weather conditions are usually when you are flying over large expanses of water, and particularly tropical water.
"I don't think that's possible in that location because it's over the desert."
He added that the focus now is on "the information is in the black boxes - those are the items I am interested in now.
"They will be listening to the cockpit recorder for unusual sounds. it records the voices and also the sounds at different locations, and you can triangulate where the sound came from and the type of sound."