Paris (AFP) – Black box data from the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt last week indicate it was bombed, sources said, ahead of a first update Saturday from the Egyptian-led probe into the disaster.
Both the flight data and voice recorders failed 24 minutes after the plane took off from Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh resort en route to Saint Petersburg on October 31, when it plummeted from the sky into the Sinai Peninsula killing all 224 people on board.
On Friday, President Vladimir Putin ordered all Russian flights to Egypt halted, in a fresh blow to the country’s already struggling tourism industry.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told news agencies the measure did not mean Moscow believed the crash — the worst aviation disaster in Russia’s history — was due to an attack, and the investigation continued.
The head of Russia’s emergencies ministry said Russian experts had taken samples from the crashed jet and were testing it for any traces of explosives.
But a source close to the investigation told AFP the black box data “strongly favours” the theory a bomb on board brought down the plane.
Another person close to the case in Paris said the plane had suffered “a violent, sudden” end, saying: “Everything was normal during the flight, absolutely normal, and suddenly there was nothing.”

British tourists arrive at the airport in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh

Nearly 80,000 Russian tourists are estimated have been stranded in Egypt by their government’s decision to halt flights.
Britain on Friday lifted its block on flights out of Sharm el-Sheikh but just 1,200 of the estimated 20,000 Britons who were holidaying in the resort managed to get home.
Those that did get out were forced to leave their check-in baggage behind to be transported separately after London ordered airlines to allow hand luggage only.
Egypt’s aviation minister said the restrictions on flights were imposed because the airport could not cope with all the luggage left behind.

Tourists disembark an Egypt Air plane at the airport in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik

Washington said it would step up security screenings of US-bound flights from some Middle East airports as a precaution.