ISIS is claiming responsibility for the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt, but officials believe that other causes are more likely.
En route to Egypt where a Russian plane has crashed killing all 224 on board. #ISIS claims it. But strong evidence of technical failure.
— Bill Neely (@BillNeelyNBC) October 31, 2015
Watch below:
From Middle East Eye:
There was no official word on the cause of the crash, but the Islamic State group’s affiliate in Egypt claimed it had downed the Russian plane.
“The soldiers of the caliphate succeeded in bringing down a Russian plane in Sinai,” said the statement circulated on social media.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his French counterpart Francois Hollande said they had sent their condolences to Moscow.
The Russian emergency ministry published a list of names of the passengers, ranging in age from a 10-month-old girl to a 77-year-old woman.
A senior Egyptian aviation official said the plane was a charter flight operated by a Russian firm carrying 217 passengers and seven crew members, which was flying at an altitude of 30,000 feet when communication was lost.
#Egypt: #Russian plane went down at 31000 ft. #IS in #Sinai has MANPADs (as per pics), but MANPAD range is 15000 ft. pic.twitter.com/OsgkgaUgF1
— Charlie Winter (@charliewinter) October 31, 2015
More from the Associated Press:
Egypt’s civil aviation minister says an investigative team has arrived at the Russian plane crash site in the Sinai peninsula to examine the debris and try to locate the flight’s data and cockpit voice recorders, commonly known as the black box.
Egyptian officials say the pilot of the Russian airliner that crashed early Saturday had reported technical difficulties and wanted to make an emergency landing before losing contact with air traffic controllers.
Adel Mahgoub, chairman of the state company that runs Egypt’s civilian airports, said the plane had successfully undergone technical checks at Sharm el-Sheikh’s airport before taking off. He said experts were going there to view security camera footage of the Metrojet plane at the airport.
The plane, carrying 217 passengers and 7 crew, all Russians, went down in an area where Egypt has been fighting an Islamic insurgency.
More details will be published as they become available.