The final moments of the Russian passenger plane that suddenly plummeted from high altitude in the Egyptian desert, killing 224, is shrouded in mystery and confusion. The airline on Monday, however, ruled out the possibility of a pilot error or a technical fault, but Russian authorities said those comments might be too early.
U.S. intelligence and other international experts said they were skeptical that the plane could have been shot down by terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS), or other groups. The plane was flying Russian vacationers home to St. Petersburg from a Red Sea resort on Saturday morning. Some experts raised the possibility of a bomb on board the Metrojet Airbus A321. The Russian aviation chief, Viktor Sorochenko, said the plane broke apart in mid-air before crashing.
Amid the speculation, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, said that it’s “unlikely” ISIS shot down the plane, “but [he] wouldn’t rule it out.”
“We don’t have any direct evidence of any terrorist involvement yet. ISIL had tweeted claims,” Clapper added, speaking at the Defense One Summit on Monday in Washington, D.C. He used the U.S. government’s term for ISIS.
All 224 people on board the aircraft died and the jet’s wreckage was strewn across miles of Sinai. The plane disappeared about a half an hour after it took off from Sharm El-Sheikh.
The crash prompted a statement from ISIS affiliates, which was circulated on Twitter, claiming it had been shot down due to Russia’s recent intervention in Syria. ISIS has frequently taken credit for high-profile terrorist attacks, including the mass shooting at the Charlie Hebdo magazine office in Paris in January, or the shooting at a military facilities in Chattanooga. It’s unclear if the attacks were connected to the extremist organization.
