Noise Heard Before Russian Plane Crash

The head of the Egyptian committee investigating the crash of a Russian charter plane over the Sinai Peninsula said Saturday that investigators were focusing on a sound heard in the last second of a 23-minute cockpit voice recording, but insisted it was still premature to consider any specific explanations.

After Washington and London said they believed the Russian passenger jet might have been taken down by a bomb, Moscow on Friday halted all flights to Egypt.

The Express reported that the British surveillance agency GCHQ picked up “chatter” from militant Islamist groups in Egypt – including those whose accents suggested they were raised in Britain – immediately after the plane crashed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the suspension of all passenger flights to Egypt on advice of FSB security service on Friday.

Intelligence intercepts being used to assess what happened to a Russian airplane that crashed over the Sinai Peninsula came from Israel.

Muqadem said the crash occurred 23 minutes into the flight, when the autopilot was still engaged, and debris was scattered over a wide area extending for 13 kilometers “which is consistent with an in-flight break-up”.

“We expected that any technical information should have been shared with us, at a technical level, before publiciZing it in the media”, he said. There are a few flights departing from the Sharm el-Sheikh airport, but passengers will only be allowed to carry hand luggage, with their hold luggage being kept at the airport until alternative arrangements are made by the authorities.

Shoukrysaid that “European countries did not give us the cooperation we are hoping for”.

Speaking to the BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said: “We know there are people in the United Kingdom who would love to smuggle an explosive devise onto an airplane if they could”.

Most of the victims of the crash were Russian. “You’re in one hotel then you’re told you’re not flying out, you’re put up in another hotel and a few people have been at the airport now for two days and their holidays have been cut short”, said Mr Gilroy, who is a regular visitor to the area.

Russian officials have been skeptical of an Islamic State Sinai affiliate’s claim of responsibility for the crash.

The August incident is not thought to be directly linked to Britain’s decision to curtail flights to Sharm el-Sheikh in the wake of the crash of the Russian Metrojet airliner, killing 224 people, last Saturday.

Sources in France close to the investigation said black box data pointed to a bomb exploding.