‘Noise’ heard on black box recording of ill-fated Russian flight, chief

Earlier on Saturday, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry criticized the panic and hastiness of a few “partners” who “took procedures that had negative effects on the Egyptian economy and the tourism field”.

Mr. Moqadem, the chairman of the committee tasked with investigating the crash, said the probe is still in the information-gathering phase, but noted that the plane’s autopilot mode was engaged at the time it broke apart.

The revelation comes days after a Russian passenger jet crashed in the Sinai Peninsula last weekend, killing all 224 people aboard.

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

“The information we have heard about has not been shared with Egyptian security agencies in detail”, he said.

Almost 80,000 Russians are now vacationing in Egypt but there will be no emergency evacuation, with tourists set to return home when they want, an official told AFP.

Yaalon said he “would be surprised” if a planted explosive device did not cause the crash.

Russia has begun evacuating its citizens from Egypt following last week’s deadly Russian airline crash in Sinai.

There are about 20,000 British tourists in Sharm al-Sheikh and a few of them will board these planes, but they will only be allowed one hand luggage each due to security concerns.

Britain’s efforts, meanwhile, to bring home hundreds of British tourists stranded at Sharm el-Sheikh airport by its suspension of flights were snarled by new security measures put in place for its planes, including a ban of checking in luggage.

The pilot of the Thomson flight from London to Egypt took evasive action after spotting the missile coming toward the plane as it flew to the Red Sea resort, the Daily Mail reported.

It follows the chaos seen on Friday when 21 of the 29 scheduled services were cancelled by the Egyptian authorities with a few planes were forced to divert mid-flight.

However, the Kremlin said the decision did not mean the crash was caused by a terrorist attack.

The ISIS affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula claimed credit for downing the plane on the day of the crash, and intelligence has since suggested that an airport employee at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport planted the bomb on the plane before takeoff.

Ayman al-Muqaddam, the head of Egypt’s investigation, said the sound was heard just before Metrojet Flight 9268 broke apart in the air 23 minutes and 14 seconds after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport, CNN reported.

Russian and Egyptian officials had bristled at statements linking the crash to a bomb, saying it was too soon to tell the cause.