 CAIRO, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Investigators of the Russian plane crash in Egypt are "90 percent sure" the noise heard in the final second of a cockpit recording was an explosion caused by a bomb, a member of the investigation team told Reuters on Sunday. The Airbus A321 crashed 23 minutes after taking off from the Sharm al-Sheikh tourist resort eight days ago, killing all 224 passengers and crew. Islamic State militants fighting Egyptian security forces in Sinai said they brought it down. "The indications and analysis so far of the sound on the black box indicate it was a bomb," said the Egyptian investigation team member, who asked not to be named due to sensitivities. "We are 90 percent sure it was a bomb." His comments reflect a much greater degree of certainty about the cause of the crash than the investigation committee has so far declared in public. Lead investigator Ayman al-Muqaddam announced on Saturday that the plane appeared to have broken up in mid-air while it was being flown on auto-pilot, and that a noise had been heard in the last second of the cockpit recording. But he said it was too soon to draw conclusions about why the plane crashed. Confirmation that militants brought down the airliner could have a devastating impact on Egypt's lucrative tourist industry, which has suffered from years of political turmoil and was hit last week when Russia, Turkey and several European countries suspended flights to Sharm al-Sheikh and other destinations. It could also mark a new strategy by the hardline Islamic State group which holds large parts of Syria and Iraq. Asked to explain the remaining 10 percent margin of doubt, the investigator declined to elaborate, but Muqaddam cited other possibilities on Saturday including a fuel explosion, metal fatigue in the plane or lithium batteries overheating. He said debris was scattered over a 13-km (8-mile) area "which is consistent with an in-flight break-up." "What happened in Sharm al-Sheikh last week, and to a lesser extent with the ... (Germanwings) aircraft, are game changers for our industry," Emirates Airlines President Tim Clark said, referring to the crash of a Germanwings airliner in the French Alps in March, believed crashed deliberately by its co-pilot. "They have to be addressed at industry level because no doubt the countries -- U.S., Europe -- I would think will make some fairly stringent, draconian demands on the way aviation works with security," he said at the Dubai Airshow. Clark said he had ordered a security review but was not suspending any flights as a result of the disaster. Emirates does not operate regular flights to Sharm al-Sheikh. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond also said the incident could lead to changes in flight security. "If this turns out to be a device planted by an ISIL operative or by somebody inspired by ISIL, then clearly we will have to look again at the level of security we expect to see in airports in areas where ISIL is active," Hammond told the BBC. Islamic State, which wants to establish a caliphate in the Middle East, is also called ISIS or ISIL. Islamic State militants fighting security forces in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula have said they brought down the aircraft as revenge for Russian air strikes against Islamist fighters in Syria. They said they would eventually tell the world how they carried out the attack. If the group was responsible, it would have carried out one of the highest profile killings since al Qaeda flew passenger planes into New York's World Trade Center in September 2001. Russia has returned 11,000 of its tourists from Egypt in the last 24 hours, RIA news agency said on Sunday, a fraction of the 80,000 Russians who were stranded by the Kremlin's decision on Friday to halt all flights to Egypt. In St Petersburg, where the flight was headed on Oct. 31, the bell of St Isaac's Cathedral rang 224 times and a service was held in memory of the victims. Russia has sent specialists to conduct a safety audit of Egypt's airports and to provide recommendations on additional measures, Arkady Dvorkovich, deputy prime minister, was quoted as saying by Russian agencies. Dvorkovich, the head of a government group created on Friday to deal with suspended flights to Egypt, added a second group was going to Egypt on Sunday and a third would be sent later. Britain, which has 3,000 nationals waiting to return home, has sent a team of 70 people, including 10 aviation specialists working at Sharm al-Sheikh airport to make sure security measures are being followed. Eight flights were expected to take British tourists back home on Sunday. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/report-investigators-90-percent-sure-bomb-downed-russian-plane_563fdf12e4b0b24aee4abbb8 |
Egypt Crash Committee Says
Noise Heard In Flight Recording, Too Soon For Conclusions
 CAIRO, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Cockpit information from the Russian jet which crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula one week ago registered a noise in the last second of recording, the head of an investigation committee into the disaster said on Saturday. But the committee head, Ayman al-Muqaddam, said experts were still gathering information and it was too soon to announce conclusions. Western governments have said the crash of the Airbus A321, which killed all 224 passengers, may have been caused by a bomb and several countries have suspended flights to the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh from where the Russian plane took off. Muqaddam said the crash occurred 23 minutes into the flight, when the auto-pilot was still engaged, and debris were scattered over a wide area extending for 13 km (8 miles) "which is consistent with an in-flight break-up." "Initial observation of the aircraft wreckage does not yet allow for identifying the origin of the in-flight break-up," he told a news conference in Cairo. The committee was analyzing the cockpit voice records, and a noise was heard in the last second of the recording, he added. "A spectral analysis will be carried out by specialized labs in order to identify the nature of this noise." Referring to media reports citing Western intelligence sources pointing to the possibility that the plane was brought down by a bomb, Muqaddam said no evidence related to those claims had been provided to his team. "The committee is considering with great attention all possible scenarios for the cause of the accident and did not reach till the moment any conclusion in this regard." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/egypt-crash-committee-says-noise-heard-in-flight-recording-too-soon-for-conclusions_563e1d01e4b0b24aee4a899c |
Islamic State Leaders Boasted
About Russian Metrojet Crash, U.S. Officials Say
The "chatter" included a boast of taking down the plane on Saturday and how it was done.  WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Communications between Islamic State leaders in Raqqa, Syria, and persons in the Sinai Peninsula included boasts about the downing of a Russian passenger jet over the area, NBC reported on Friday, citing unidentified U.S. officials. "They were clearly celebrating," NBC Nightly News quoted a U.S. official as saying. The "chatter" included a boast of taking down the plane on Saturday and how it was done. The U.S. intelligence community intercepted a message from a Sinai group affiliated with Islamic State that warned of "something big in the area" before jet crash. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/isis-leaders-boast-metrojet-crash_563d3c05e4b0b24aee4a7c7b |
| Security Crackdown Looms as Bomb Blamed for Sinai Jet
Crash As tourists abandon the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, government and aviation officials warned that global airport security will need to be reviewed if suspicions are confirmed that a bomb brought down a Russian jetliner over Sinai. While officials don't have enough evidence yet to conclude the incident was the result of a blast, U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the view of the British authorities was that the disaster was "more likely than not caused by an explosive device." French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the possibility of a terror attack "is being taken very seriously." Investigators are trying to tease as much as possible from the Metrojet Airbus A321's two black boxes, recovered from the Sinai peninsula, where the plane's pieces fell to the ground Oct. 31. All 224 people aboard died in the crash. A last-second noise heard on a cockpit recording has become the focus of an Egypt-led probe. "If this turns out to be a device planted by an ISIL operative or by somebody inspired by ISIL, then clearly we will have to look again at the level of security we expect to see in airports in areas where ISIL is active," Hammond told BBC Television's Andrew Marr show on Sunday, using another acronym for the Islamic State group. People purporting to represent Islamic State claimed the downing of the jet was retaliation for Russia's bombing the extremist group in Syria. The Associated Press reported Sunday that the airport at Sharm el-Sheikh had security problems, including lax searches and a frequently malfunctioning baggage scanning device. Tighter Rules Emirates airline, ranked world No. 1 by international traffic, is already looking at its security procedures in anticipation of tighter rules, President Tim Clark told reporters in Dubai on Sunday. "As we speak, we're reviewing our procedures in terms of security and ramp handling and access to our aircraft," Clark said. "We have 22 cities in Africa, multiple cities in west Asia -- India, Pakistan, et cetera -- all of these will have to be reviewed to make sure we're as safe as we can be." Britain banned commercial flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea in the wake of the crash, leaving thousands of vacationers stranded. Other countries, including Russia, followed and travel warnings ensued with Norway, Finland and Denmark all advising against all non-essential trips. Hammond said those trying to get home on unscheduled flights face delays of two to three days at most. Egypt's benchmark EGX 30 Index of stocks slumped 2.6 percent at the close in Cairo, the most in two months. Extra Costs "What we have got to do is ensure that airport security everywhere is at the level of the best and that airport security reflects the local conditions, and where there is a higher local threat level that will mean higher levels of security are required," Hammond said. "That may mean additional costs, it may mean additional delays at airports." Hammond said the position on whether to ask Parliament to approve British attacks on Islamic State targets in Syria had not changed. The government will only propose such a motion when there is cross-party support, he said. Islamic State's decade-old Egyptian branch, a Sinai-based group known originally as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, stepped up its campaign against the government after the military-led ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Mursi in 2013. The following year, it changed its name to Sinai Province and pledged allegiance to the rapidly expanding Islamic State, acquiring more powerful weaponry and ramping up the boldness of its attacks with an assault on an Egyptian frigate this past July. A senior Israeli official said Sunday that Sinai Province would see its prestige and arms pipeline grow if it turns out it planted a bomb on the Russian plane. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak on the record, predicted Egypt would crack down harshly on the group if it embarrassed President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi with an attack. Russian Inspectors The first of three teams of inspectors Russia has sent to audit safety and prepare recommendations in key Egypt's airports has arrived, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said on state TV. Clark said he expects U.S. and European aviation authorities will eventually make some "fairly stringent" demands of the industry as a result of the crash. "These are game-changers to our industry," Clark said. "There are many airports in the world where if people wanted to do some pretty bad things they could do them." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-08/hammond-sees-u-k-security-crackdown-if-jet-crash-caused-by-bomb |
Air chiefs 'warned pilots of
terror over Sinai months before downing of Russian jet'
 A 'NOTAM' - Notice to Airmen - issued by the US Government's Federal Aviation Administration on November 5, 2014, warned that jihadis of the IS-affiliated Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis group, now known as Wilayat Sinai, were using 'man portable air defence systems' and had brought down an Egyptian helicopter in 2014. IS claimed responsibility for downing the Russian jet, making Wilayat Sinai the prime suspects if it was an act of terrorism. The news came as it emerged that a Thomson Airways jet with 189 passengers had to take evasive action after spotting a rocket as it approached Sharm-el-Sheik in August. Pilots were warned exactly a year ago that shoulder-launched ground-to-air missiles possessed by jihadi groups in Sinai could bring down an airliner. Above, the wreckage of the Russian aircraft A Foreign Office spokesman said it was 'likely to be connected to Egyptian military exercises taking place in the area. It was fully investigated and was not a targeted attack.' According to Thomson, a Department for Transport investigation found it was probably a flare. The 2014 US NOTAM said: 'Extremist groups have demonstrated their ability to operate outside of their northern Sinai stronghold areas and conduct activity elsewhere on the peninsula.' Although such rockets usually have an effective ceiling of no more than 15,000ft, a later FAA warning in March 2015 added: 'Some of these weapons have the capability to target aircraft at high altitudes and/or upon approach and departure... They could be used to potentially engage civil aviation.' British authorities similarly warned pilots in a NOTAM in September 2015 to stay above 25,000ft in a 14,000 square mile area of northern Sinai when approaching Sharm because of the threat from 'dedicated anti-aviation weaponry'. The area included the location where the Russian jet came down. British pilots have clearly been nervous for some time about flying over Sinai. One, writing anonymously on the Professional Pilots Rumour Network forum, said last week: 'I have to admit I've been seriously worried these past few days.' He added that his company took six weeks to circulate a NOTAM warning about St Catherine Monastery at Mount Sinai, scene of a tourist bus bombing in 2013. He said: 'My eyes are on stalks every time I go near the place... If I see anything untoward I'll be taking evasive action.' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3308731/Air-chiefs-warned-pilots-terror-Sinai-months-downing-Russian-jet.html#ixzz3qzUZPsX2 |
The Latest: Russian airport
inspectors dispatched to Egypt
 Vnukovo airport employees unload luggage from an Emergency Ministry plane at Vnukovo airport outside Moscow, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015. The plane delivered luggage of tourists from the Egyptian resort of Sharm-El-Sheikh. Around 3 tons of luggage of tourists who departed with 5 flights before were reloaded by emergency ministry staff. (AP Photo/Denis Tyrin) MOSCOW (AP) - The latest on the crash of a Russian plane in Egypt that killed all 224 people onboard. (All times local.) 7:30 p.m. Dozens of airliners are bringing Russian tourists back home from Egypt, carrying only cabin baggage, while Russian cargo planes were hauling back the rest of their luggage. At least 26 flights from the Egyptian resort areas of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada had landed at Moscow's three airports as of Sunday evening. There was no overall figure for how many tourists had been brought home since the Friday announcement that Russia was suspending new passenger flights to Egypt because of security concerns. The Emergencies Ministry said 55 flights were planned between late Saturday and late Sunday. It said the flights would leave from 13 different airports, implying the return trips would go to the originating point. Lumbering airlifter planes such as Il-76s are bringing back heavier luggage. The planes belong to the emergencies and defense ministries and to a private cargo airline. ___ 2:30 p.m. Britain's foreign secretary says airport security in many cities will need to be overhauled if it is confirmed the Russian plane crash in the Sinai was caused by a bomb planted by the Islamic State group or someone inspired by the militants. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond warned that if those suspicions are true, there needs to be a rethink of security at airports in areas where the extremist group is active. He told the BBC Sunday that "may mean additional costs, it may mean additional delays at airports as people check in." U.S. and British officials suspect the Oct. 31 flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg was brought down by a bomb on board, but Egypt warns it is too early to say what caused the crash. ___ 2:25 p.m. Mourners have packed into the landmark St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg for a memorial service for victims of the Russian plane crash. As a choir sang, the bell of the world's fourth-largest cathedral was tolling one time for each of the 224 victims. Most of the victims were from St. Petersburg or other areas of northwest Russia. The Russian airliner crashed Oct. 31, about 20 minutes after taking off from an Egyptian resort area. The British government and U.S. officials have said intelligence suggests the plane was downed by a bomb, but Egypt says there's still no confirmation of what caused the crash. ___ 2:00 p.m. Egyptian authorities are preventing camera crews from foreign media from filming inside the Sharm el-Sheikh airport, along the city's main tourist strip in Naama Bay, or other public areas. Lines for departure were normal on Sunday, with most flights scheduled for the afternoon and evening, including those for Britain and Russia. Egyptian state and private channels, allowed to film inside the airport, highlighted security checks and luggage scanning at the main queue for international departures. ___ 1:30 p.m. The Mideast's biggest airline says it is reviewing security procedures in Egypt but remains committed to flying there as suspicions grow that a bomb brought down a Russian airliner in the Sinai Peninsula. Emirates airline President Tim Clark told reporters Sunday at the start of the Dubai Airshow that Egypt is "an enormously important market" to the carrier and that it is important that it maintains its operations there. He says Dubai-based Emirates is reviewing its procedures relating to security, ground handling and access to aircraft while they are on the ground in Egypt. Emirates operates two daily roundtrip flights linking Cairo with Dubai, the Middle East's commercial hub. It does not fly to Sharm el-Sheikh, the departure airport for the doomed Russian airliner. ___ 12 p.m. A deputy Russian prime minister says the first of three teams of Russian inspectors has been dispatched to Egypt to examine security conditions at airports there. Arkady Dvorkovich's announcement Sunday follows Russia's decision Friday to suspend passenger flights to Egypt because of security concerns. A Russian airliner crashed Oct. 31, killing all 224 people aboard, about 20 minutes after taking off from an Egyptian resort area. The British government and U.S. officials have said intelligence suggests the plane was downed by a bomb, but Egypt says there's still no confirmation of what caused the crash. Dvorkovich did not give details of specific issues on which the inspectors might focus. He said that 11,000 Russians were flown home from Egypt on Saturday and an even larger number were expected to leave Sunday, according to Russian news agencies. Russians flying out of Egypt are allowed to take only cabin baggage. The Ministry of Defense said Sunday that it has sent two Il-76 cargo planes to Egypt to bring back larger luggage the Russians had to leave behind. |
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