Mystery persists over Russian plane crash

St. Petersburg, November 3

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The first 10 bodies of victims of Saturday’s plane crash over Egypt were identified by their families today, Russian officials said.

Metrojet’s Airbus A321-200 en route from Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg crashed over the Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, killing all 224 on board. The overwhelming majority of the passengers were Russian holidaymakers flying home.

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 Monday and Tuesday and that a third plane is expected to bring more remains later on Tuesday.

Confusing reports and theories emerged on Monday as to what could have caused the crash.

Some aviation experts raised the possibility that a bomb on board the Airbus brought it down, while others cited an incident in 2001 when the aircraft grazed the runway with its tail while landing.

Metrojet firmly denied that the crash could have been caused by either equipment failure or crew error.

In Egypt, the US 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.” — AP

Experts begin examining black boxes 

Cairo: Investigators began their examination on Tuesday of the two black boxes from the Russian airliner that crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. The examination of the black boxes-one that recorded on-board conversations and the other flight data of the Airbus A321-started around midday (1530 IST), an Egyptian civil aviation ministry official said. The probe could last several weeks or months if the recordings in the black boxes had been damaged, sources said. AFP

'No mid-air break-up’ 

CAIRO: The Egypt's civil aviation ministry said on Tuesday 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. Reuters