Was it a bomb? Probe says Russian plane 'broke up in air'

The Russian plane that crashed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula over the weekend, killing all 224 people aboard, broke up high in the air, an official said Sunday, bolstering theories that the craft had a preexisting problem that led to structural failure.

As flags flew at half mast on a national day of mourning in Russia, investigators rushed to the scene of the wreckage where 163 bodies had been recovered by Sunday afternoon. Some were found several miles away from the twisted and blackened remains of the Airbus A321. Many personal effects were strewn about with the wreckage in the desert.

Alexander Neradko, head of Russia's federal aviation agency, confirmed that the jet disintegrated at high altitude in a remote area where Egypt is fighting the Islamic State and Al Qaeda-backed terrorists. 

Neradko refused to comment on the cause of the crash, claiming the investigation was ongoing, but terrorism experts believe that a bomb could have been responsible.

The plane, whose passengers were largely Russian tourists, suddenly lost altitude and crashed 23 minutes after departing Egypt’s Sharm el Sheik, a Red Sea resort town popular with Russians seeking warmer weather.

Aviation experts pored over the scant available information, hoping for clues that might explain the crash.

The aircraft, which was delivered in 1997, had flown more than 56,000 flight hours during 21,000 flights.

However, in November 2001, while flying into Cairo, the aircraft suffered a serious tail strike while landing.

According to a report on Flight Global, on November 16 2001, the aircraft struggled to keep to the glide slope as it approached Cairo airport.  

The incident report said: ‘Following a daylight instrument landing approach on which the aircraft had diverged both above and below the glide slope, which had led the pilot to make large manual corrections. The aircraft suffered a hard tail-strike on landing, causing serious damage.  Passengers disembarked normally at the gate.’  

The jet was repaired and returned to service but air crash investigators will try and determine whether the damage from 2001 weakened the airframe and led to its mid-air break up.

Russian airline regulators have grounded Metrojet’s fleet of Airbus A321s following the crash. The air safety agency said Metrojet needs to thoroughly analyse the situation and weigh all risks before a decision is made on Tuesday on whether to allow the airline to resume flights.

The airline insisted that all its aircraft were serviced 'in a timely manner' and tested before take off. The airline also said it could not doubt the professionalism of the pilot and crew of the jet.