Showing posts with label Metrojet 9268. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Metrojet 9268. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Russia Confirms Bomb Brought Down Metrojet in Saini - UPDATE



‘This Was a Terrorist Act’
Alexander Bortnikov, the head of FSB, Russia’s state security organization, said today that a homemade explosive device brought down the Metrojet 9268 over Saini Peninsula.

“According to our experts, a homemade explosive device equivalent to 1 kilogram of TNT went off onboard, which caused the plane to break up in the air, explaining why the fuselage was scattered over such a large territory. I can certainly say that this was a terrorist act,” Bortnikov said. (AP, 17 November)

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for downing the Russian plane in written statements, as well as video and audio messages posted on the Internet following the 31 October crash that killed all 224 people onboard. ISIL said the attack was retaliation against Russia’s air campaign the organization in Syria.

Meanwhile, Russian President Putin vowed to hunt down those responsible for the terrorist attack and punish them. Putin added that the air campaign in Syria “should not only be continued but should be intensified.” He instructed the Defense Ministry and General Staff to present their plans on how Russia’s operation in Syria could be modified.

“We will act in accordance to the UN Charter Article 51, which gives each country the right to self-defense,” Putin said. (AP, 17 November)

UPDATE: Russia conducted several strikes in Raqqa on Tuesday. Fox News quoting a defense official in the region said the strikes included cruise missiles and possibly long-range bombers. The assault on ISIL’s capital in Syria came hours after Russia confirmed that a bomb brought down a Russian passenger jet in Sinai. ISIL has taken responsibility for bringing down Metrojet 9268 on 31 October. 

Photo credit: A Russian investigator walks near wreckage a day after Metrojet Airbus 321-200 bound for St. Petersburg, Russia, crashed in Saini Peninsula, Egypt. (Amr Nabil/AP)

Friday, November 6, 2015

Russia Suspends Flights to Egypt - UPDATE



President Vladimir Putin today suspended all flights from Russia to Egypt until the cause of the crash of the Metrojet Flight 9268 can be established. Egypt is the most popular tourist destination for Russians, and there are more than 25 daily flights from Russia to Egypt. Until now, the Russian authorities have been playing down the possibility of terrorism in the crash of 9268.

UPDATE: France24 reported today that European investigators who analyzed the two flight recorders from the Metrojet plane are categorically ruling out accident. They said the cockpit voice recorder shows an explosion, and the flight date recorder confirms the explosion was not accidental.

United States and Britain shared their intelligence with Russia concerning the Metrojet crash before Putin made the decision to suspend flights, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Paskov told CNN late Friday. 

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Russian Airliner Crashes in Sinai

Killing All 224 Passengers and Crew Aboard
A Russian Mertrojet Airbus A321-200 aircraft crashed today into a mountainous area of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 passengers and crew aboard. The Metrojet Flight 9268 was flying from the Sinai Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg in Russia when it went down in central Sinai soon after daybreak. (Reuters, 31 October)

The plane landed in a “vertical fashion,” a security source told Reuters, contributing to the scale of devastation and burning.

"The plane split into two, a small part on the tail end that burned and a larger part that crashed into a rock," a Sweden-based aviation tracking service said. (Reuters, 31 October)

Initial reports by the Egyptian authorities suggested the crash was probably caused by a technical default.  But a militant group affiliated with the Islamic State Sinai Province said in a statement carried by Aamaq, the semi-official new agency for ISIL, that it had brought down the plane “in response to Russian airstrikes that killed hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land,” Reuters reported.

Russia’s Minister of Transportation, however, told Interfax that the claim by the Islamic State “can’t be considered accurate.”

UPDATE: The New York Times reports that the flight's pilot radioed he had technical problems, but France24 reports that the veteran captain never issued a distress call. Both reports, however, suggest the plane experienced a catastrophic event just before nose-diving into the ground, either a massive technical breakdown or a powerful explosion inside the plane.

Top photo: The Metrojet Airbus A321-200, registration number EI-ETJ, that crashed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, seen in this picture taken in Turkey in September 2015 (Photo: Reuters)

Bottom photos: First photos of the wreckage of Mertojet (Twitter/@AmichaiStein1)