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.
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USA intelligence agencies are 99.9% sure that a bomb had caused the October 31 crash of Russia’s Metrojet Flight 9268 over the Sinai Peninsula.
The Egypt-led global investigation into the A321 crash, which does nor include Britain or the United States, said that the inquiry needs more worldwide assistance to determine the cause of the crash as soon as possible.
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A spokesman for Egypt’s Aviation Ministry dismissed the claims saying “Sharm El Sheikh is one of the safest airports in the world” while the Egyptian President previously said a British security team were satisfied with the airport after a visit 10 months ago.
The Islamic State-affiliated Sinai Province, which claimed it brought the plane down, said it acted in revenge for Russian air strikes against Islamist fighters in Syria.
Russian Federation will need two more weeks to bring the remaining tourists back home, he told Medvedev at the meeting.
Muqaddam said that a noise could be heard in the last moments of the recording of the plane’s cockpit voice recorder, but a detailed analysis of the sound had yet to be carried out. He declined, however, to draw any firm conclusions about why the plane crashed.
“European countries did not give us the co-operation we are hoping for”, he said.
Tour operators are said to be considering scrapping all package holidays directly to Sharm el-Sheikh unless they receive assurance the airport is secure from infiltration by jihadists.
“He suggested countries now flagging the likelihood that militants were behind the crash should have heeded Egypt’s repeated calls for coordination to combat terrorism”.
“Initial observations… do not allow for identifying the origin of the in-flight break-up” of the aircraft 23 minutes and 14 seconds after it departed from Sharm, Ayman el-Mokkadem said.
Dmitry Lovetsky/AP A man and children come to lay flowers and toys at an entrance of Pulkovo airport outside St. Petersburg, Russia, during a day of national mourning for the plane crash victims on November 1.
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.
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The repatriations mean 5,300 holidaymakers have returned home since flights from the Red Sea resort recommenced on Friday amid heightened security measures following last week’s Russian plane crash.
