Egypt to send Russia jet recording abroad for analysis: Official
An Egyptian official says a copy of the black box recording of a Russian Airbus that crashed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula will be sent abroad for analysis amid efforts to identify the exact cause of the incident.
The Airbus A321, which was on its way to Saint Petersburg crashed in the Sinai Peninsula on October 31, minutes after it took off from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, leaving all 224 people on board dead.
Last week, an Egyptian-led investigative committee announced that a sound was caught by the black box just before the disaster, but it said further analysis was needed.
“This sound will be analyzed with specific equipment that is not available in most countries,” Egypt’s Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal told state newspaper al-Ahram in an interview published on Friday.
He added that “the last seven minutes of the black box recording will be sent to one of the countries that manufacture airplanes and that have this equipment to analyze this sound and its cause.”
The Airbus was reportedly manufactured in Germany, with a French design, and its engine was built in the United States.
“The investigation has not yet arrived to a conclusion on the cause of the incident, and all scenarios are still open,” said Kamal.
The US and the UK have both said intelligence reports indicate that a bomb on board the flight has caused it to go down.
Following the disaster, Moscow suspended all flights to Egypt, while the UK has halted flights to Sharm el-Sheikh. A number of other countries have also warned their nationals against flying to the resort over security concerns.
The restrictions, which were denounced by the Egyptian government, have dealt a severe blow to Egypt’s tourism industry, a main revenue earner.
Militants from Velayat Sinai (Sinai Province), previously known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, had earlier circulated a statement on social media claiming responsibility for the plane crash. They said the group brought down the aircraft in revenge for Russian airstrikes against positions of Daesh in Syria. Velayat Sinai pledged allegiance to Daesh in November 2014.
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