Russian Metrojet Crash: Mid-Air Explosion Suspected

Russian investigators have concluded that the Metrojet airliner that crashed on Saturday in Sinai had broken up in mid-air before crashing. The investigation also shows that the bodies of the passengers seated in the rear of the aircraft showed 90 percent burn, France24 reported. Both findings are consistent with a powerful mid-air explosion in the rear of the plane when it reached cruising altitude, causing fire that led to the severe burns and breaking up of the plane under the force of explosion.

Russia’s Interfax also reported that a cockpit recorder had picked up sounds of chaos in Metrojet 9268's final moments.

“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,” Interfax quoted an official familiar with the investigation. (Interfax/The Telegraph, 3 November)

Soon after the crash, the Islamic State in Sinai, the Egyptian affiliate of ISIL, took responsibility in the social media for bringing down the plane, which killed all 224 people aboard. In the past, ISIL has never taken responsibility for a terrorist act it did not commit, and its current claim should be taken seriously. If true, this could be Russia’s version of 9/11, with terrorists using aircraft to cause mass casualties.

Photo: Moscow memorial site for the victims of Metrojet crash (Telegtaph)

Russia’s Metrojet Aircraft Broke into Pieces in Midair

The Russian Metrojet Airbus A321 aircraft that crashed on Saturday morning in Sinai broke into pieces in midair, a senior Russian aviation official said today. The crash killed all 224 people aboard Flight 9268. Footage from the scene showed mangled wreckage from the plane spilled over a largely flat, barren landscape.

“Disintegration of the fuselage took place in the air, and the fragments are scattered around a large area (about 20 square kilometers),” Victor Sorochenko, executive director of Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee, told journalists. (CNN, 1 November)

Peter Goelz, a CNN aviation analysts and former managing director of U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, told the network that the catastrophic failure in the plane could have been caused by maintenance problem. “It could have been a center fuel tank that might have exploded,” Goelz said.

Air traffic control recordings don’t show any distress call, Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation Hossam Kamel said today.

“There was absolutely nothing abnormal before the plane crashed,” Kamel said. “It suddenly disappeared from the radar.”

Islamic State Sinai Province, an ISIL affiliate, on Saturday claimed responsibility for the crash of the Flight 9268. But Egyptian and Russian officials dismissed the claim. It is not known, however, if the investigators have ruled out a terrorist act, like the explosion of a bomb during the flight.

Photo credit: A piece of Russia’s Metrojet Flight 9268 found among the wreckage of the Airbus A321 aircraft; Saturday 31 October 2015, Sinai Peninsula (Twitter)

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)