Share

Sinai crash: Britain points to security flaws at Egypt airport

Putin also issued instructions to help Russians vacationing in Egypt return home.

Advertisement

Mr Hammond said that he and other government officials involved in the decision to ground the planes had chosen to do so after asking themselves whether they would have felt safe to board a plane from Sharm el-Sheikh in the days after the crash.

The video, which The Independent reports was posted to Archive.org Friday night by the media wing of IS’ Aleppo province in Syria, claims that IS’ Egyptian affiliate, known as Wilayat Sinai, was the terrorist outfit behind the atrocious bombing of Russian Airbus A321.

Newspaper columns, television broadcasts, street conversations and even government websites repeat a daily chorus of accusations that Britain pre-empted the investigation when it said the plane was likely to have been brought down by a bomb.

“Denial on behalf of the state that there is a crisis and then trying to point to some kind of third party is very normal” in Egypt, said Hebatalla Taha, an Egypt-focused analyst at the global Institute for Strategic Studies.

Investigators from Egypt, Russian Federation and a number of other countries have been examining the plane’s black boxes to determine the cause of the crash.

Karim ElMinabawy, president at Emeco Travel, said the situation remained unclear following the Russian plan crash in the Sinai desert.

Last week, the first extracted data from the Russian airplane’s “black box” showed sounds in the cockpit “uncharacteristic of a standard flight preceding the moment of the airliner’s disappearance”.

There are some official speculations that the plane was brought down by a bomb, suggesting lax security in Sharm el-Sheikh Airport.

Concerns have been raised about the protection of luggage after airport staff said 20,000 bags and cases are piled up at the airport.

Some 9.9 million tourists visited Egypt a year ago – nearly half of them going to Red Sea resorts.

While Russian Federation and Egypt said the statements were premature pending the official crash probe, Moscow’s ban on flights signalled that it was taking the bomb theory seriously. Security guards and caterers were also reported under scrutiny.

At least 40 percent of tourists have left the Egyptian resort since the crash amid security fears over the town’s airport.

Advertisement

Ayman al-Muqaddam, head of the team investigating Egypt’s worst air disaster, was more cautious Sunday, saying, “We don’t know what happened exactly”.

UK: 'Highly Likely' Russian Plane Downed by Islamic State Group Affiliate