Cause of Russian plane crash remains uncertain, but Sinai threat was previously highlighted
The Russian authorities have said that it is too early to rule out pilot error or technical problems, and played down the notion of terrorism. Yet CBS News states that a US satellite detected a heat flash  over Sinai at the time the plane crashed, fuelling speculation over a bomb or missile strike. In the meantime Debka reports that the US, UK and German Governments had all warned their airlines not to fly below 26,000 feet over the Sinai, apparently mentioning the risk from "anti-aircraft weapons with the potential for reaching high altitudes"; the German Government’s warning was in fact filed over a month ago.

 

MOSCOW — The mystery deepened Monday over the weekend crash of a Russian charter plane on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt that killed all 224 aboard, with company executives ruling out technical or human error only to be upbraided by aviation officials who called such assertions premature.

As representatives from at least five countries joined the investigation of the Airbus jetliner crash, new questions also arose about the aircraft’s repair history and the possibility that a terrorist act felled it on Saturday.

The Metrojet flight full of mostly Russian vacationers, bound for St. Petersburg from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh, plummeted after having reached cruising altitude, scattering in chunks and bits across almost eight square miles.

The lack of information has been exacerbated by unsubstantiated claims from the Islamic State that its militants destroyed the aircraft to avenge colleagues killed by Russia’s immersion into the Syria war.