Russian passenger jet crashes in Egypt

Questions are swirling over the cause of crash of the Russian passenger jet, KGL 9268, which went down the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt on Saturday.

Soon after the accident, the Islam militant group ISIS claimed that it brought down the Russian passenger jet, but Egypt and Russia have denied the possibility.

At the Twitter account of Sinai Province, or the Egyptian branch of ISIS, soon after the crash, a video clip showing images of a crashing airplane amid smoke was uploaded, along with a post reading “We shot down the passenger jet.” “Russia will pay price for massacre of ISIS. We killed all crusaders on the Russian passenger jet, "ISIS claimed. The authenticity of the footage has not been confirmed, but Arab nations are wary of the situation since the site of the crash is an ISIS base.

Russian Transportation Minister Maxim Sokolov told a press conference on Sunday that the rumor that it was committed by ISIS cannot be considered accurate.” Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail also said on the day that the plane was flying at an altitude where it could not have been shot down, adding that analysis of the collected black box would reveal the exact cause of the accident.

"Flight radar data makes clear there was a flight upset, but we have no idea why. There are loads of terrorist factions operating in the area and many affiliated to Islamic State... The plane was too high for a shoulder launched missile," said David Learmount, consulting editor of Flight Global.

According to Small Arms Survey, an international weapons inspection agency in Switzerland, ISIS took over Russian-made surface-to-air missiles when it occupied the Syrian city of Raqqa in August last year. The weapon was originally developed to strike a helicopter or low-flying, low-speed aircraft, but terrorist organizations reportedly switched parts sometimes.

Some watchers are raising the possibility that a bomb might have been installed in the plane, or the aircraft could have been struck with a missile while lowering altitude for emergency landing. The plane reportedly did not send distress signals at the time of crash. Foreign media organizations and experts cite mechanical failure as a probable cause of the accident.

snow@donga.com