No 10 said in a statement earlier that while it can not “categorically” be said what caused the crash, “as more information has come to light we have become concerned that the plane may well have been brought down by an explosive device”.
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“There is a definite feeling it was an explosive device planted in luggage or somewhere on the plane”, the official, who is familiar with the latest US intelligence analysis of the crash, told CNN.
“A bad fix is like a ticking time bomb, because once it’s on the plane, it stays with the plane forever”, she said.
The website Flightradar24, which tracks aircraft around the world, said it had received data from the Russian plane suggesting sharp changes in altitude and a dramatic decrease in ground speed before the signal was lost.
The United Kingdom says it will not allow airlines to fly British citizens from the airport where Saturday’s doomed Russian charter flight departed until the government is sure it is safe to do so.
British aviation experts are travelling to Sharm el-Sheikh, where the flight that crashed Saturday originated from, to assess security.
Investigators from Russian Federation, Germany and France are all on site of the crash, trying to determine what happened.
Russian officials earlier Wednesday said the voice recorder had suffered serious damage.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the UK Government is now advising against all but essential travel through the resort’s airport as there is a “significant possibility” the Russian jet was brought down by an explosion.
The Islamic State group claimed it had downed the plane because of Moscow’s recent military intervention in Syria against the extremist group, but el-Sissi dismissed that as “propaganda” aimed at damaging Egypt’s image. And when I say fraction, I’m talking …
The Sinai Province, an Egyptian militant group that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group, also known as ISIS, has taken responsibility for causing the plane to crash.
The IS affiliate in Egypt is waging a bloody insurgency in the north of the Sinai Peninsula that has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers.
The intrigue over the Russian charter jet’s final moments has only deepened as aviation experts float two theories: Either there was a bomb smuggled on board or a few sort of catastrophic mechanical failure occurred in mid-flight.
In the Sinai, Russian and Egyptian rescue workers were still scouring the desert after expanding their search area to 40 square kilometers (15 square miles).
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While they found the Egyptian authorities have stepped up their efforts, “more needs to be done”, a Downing Street spokeswoman said.
