Russian Plane Crash Probe Finds No Evidence of Explosion

Ministry employees on boats search for fragments of a plane in the Black Sea, outside Sochi, Russia, on Dec. 28, 2016. (Vladimir Velengurin/Emergency Situations Ministry Photo via AP)

MOSCOW (AP)—A Russian military official says analysis of a crashed plane’s flight recorders has shown there was no explosion on board.

Lt. Gen. Sergei Bainetov said Thursday that “we have come to conclusion that there was no explosion on board.” He stopped short though of immediately ruling out a terror attack, saying that “we aren’t rejecting that version yet.”

A crane carries a fragment of a plane engine lifted by divers on a ship just outside Sochi, Russia, on Dec. 28, 2016. (Rossiya One TV Channel photo via AP)

Ministry diver lifts a fragment of a plane outside in Sochi, Russia, on Dec. 28, 2016 (Emergency Situations Ministry Photo via AP)

Bainetov who heads the military commission investigating Sunday’s crash that killed all 92 on board, said a terror attack may not necessarily involve an explosion and that several factors might have contributed to the crash.

Bainetov said that flights of the military’s Tu-154s have been suspended during the investigation but said they will likely resume after the investigation is over.

An icon and a portrait of Yelizaveta Glinka are placed among flowers at a pier in Sochi, Russia, in Sochi, Russia, on Dec. 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Viktor Klyushin)