adminRussian media reports say unusual sounds have been heard from cockpit recordings at the moment a Russian passenger plane crashed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula at the weekend.
The news came after revelations by US broadcasters that satellite images had detected a heat flash at the time of the crash that killed all 224 people on board the Airbus A-321.
“Before the moment of the disappearance of the aircraft from radar screens, sounds are recorded which are not characteristic of a normal flight,” Interfax quoted an unnamed security source in Cairo as saying.
A team of investigators led by Egypt and aided by experts from Russia, Airbus and Ireland visited the crash site on Tuesday as they try to find out the cause of the deadly crash.
Once investigations at the site finish, investigators are expected to focus on analysing the black box recorders, which are reportedly in good condition and could bring officials closer to finding out how the jet came crashing down.
On Tuesday, a US official told NBC News that the US intelligence community believed that it could have been some kind of explosion on the plane itself, either a fuel tank or a bomb.
The same satellite imagery ruled out a surface-to-air missile attack, the news channel reported.
Speculation of a possible bomb on board has continued, with Russian officials saying the plane broke up in midair. But Egyptian civil aviation officials have said there were no facts to substantiate assertions by Russian officials.
Though officials have confirmed that no distress call was received, suggesting a sudden break-up to many experts.
Kogalymavia, a small airline that operated the flight under the name Metrojet, said on Monday that the disaster was most likely caused by a midair “impact” and that the plane had no technical problems.
Its announcement followed Egyptian and Russian authorities categorically ruling out claims from an affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group that members of the Sinai-based group had downed the plane with a rocket.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Britain’s prime minister David Cameron have agreed on the need for “the tightest possible security” at the Sinai resort airport where a doomed Russian airliner departed, London said.
Al-Sisi and Cameron spoke by telephone ahead of the Egyptian leader’s visit to London, according to a statement from Cameron’s office released late on Tuesday.
Investigators have yet to determine the cause of the crash.
Cameron and Sisi “agreed it was important not to pre-judge the investigation,” the British statement said.
They “noted that there was still uncertainty about the cause of the crash and agreed it would be prudent to ensure the tightest possible security arrangements at Sharm el-Sheikh airport as a precautionary measure.”
Egyptian state media said yesterday that Sisi had set off for his three-day visit to Britain. — Al Jazeera
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