Russian Plane Crash: Speculation on Photos With ‘Holes’ in Doors

Russian, Egyptian officials dispel bomb speculation
By Jack Phillips
November 5, 2015 3:02 pm Last Updated: November 6, 2015 7:15 am
Debris of the A321 Russian airliner lie on the ground a day after the plane crashed in Wadi al-Zolomat, a mountainous area in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, on November 1, 2015. (KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images)

A Russian newspaper has published photos of possible “marks made” from shrapnel on the doors of the Airbus A321 that crashed in Egypt, killing 224 on Saturday.

Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda highlighted the photos of the downed Russian airliner, showing what appears to be pock marks in the fuselage.

According to the paper, the holes appear “like marks made by shrapnel” from a bomb. It added that there are “holes in the plane parts with the edges curved inside-out,” according to a translation from MailOnline.

“We may suppose that these are the holes made by the destructive parts of the bomb,” the paper wrote. One image shows “small holes at the inner door of the emergency exit at the back part of the plane.”

“Such holes could have been made by metal balls, which are often used by terrorists as the destructive parts of the bombs,” the paper claimed.

This week, a growing chorus of officials are speculating that the plane was likely brought down by a bomb. 

Adding to it, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday said it’s “increasingly” likely a bomb was responsible for bringing down the Russian airplane over Egypt.

Britain, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands have suspended flights in and out of Sharm al-Sheikh, the resort area where thousands of Europeans and Russians take their vacations. The plane crashed on the Sinai Peninsula.

A Sinai-based organization affiliated with the Islamic State, or ISIS–the terrorist organization that has taken over much of Iraq and Syria and has many splinter cells–claimed responsibility for the crash.

And in a NBC News report earlier this week, a U.S. infrared satellite picked up a “heat flash” right before the plane started plummeting. It has been suggested that either a bomb or a fuel tank explosion caused the flash.

Egyptian soldiers collect personal belongings of plane crash victims at the crash site of the plane in Hassana, Egypt, on Monday, Nov. 2, 2015. (Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations photo via AP)
Egyptian soldiers collect personal belongings of plane crash victims at the crash site of the plane in Hassana, Egypt, on Monday, Nov. 2, 2015. (Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations photo via AP)

“We cannot be certain that the Russian airliner was brought down by a terrorist bomb, but it looks increasingly likely that that was the case,” Cameron said in a conference on Thursday with his Egyptian counterpart, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. “We are working intensively together in the spirit of close cooperation and I’m immensely grateful for all the efforts the Egyptian authorities have made so far,” he also said, according to a video of his remarks.

On Thursday, Russian and Egyptian officials said the “speculation” on the plane crash is harming the investigation, reported the BBC.

Russian officials have not ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack.

As for the United States, an unnamed official said the Airbus A321 plane crashed probably because a bomb was planted on it.

“There is a definite feeling it was an explosive device planted in luggage or somewhere on the plane,” the official told CNN’s Barbara Starr on Nov. 4.

In this photo made available Monday, Nov. 2, 2015, and provided by Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, Egyptian Military on cars approach a plane's tail at the wreckage of a passenger jet bound for St. Petersburg in Russia that crashed in Hassana, Egypt, on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015. The Russian cargo plane on Monday brought the first bodies of Russian victims killed in a plane crash in Egypt home to St. Petersburg, a city awash in grief for its missing residents. (Maxim Grigoriev/Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations via AP)
(Maxim Grigoriev/Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations via AP)

Their comments come as thousands of Britons are stranded in Sharm al-Sheikh. Planes have been sent from the U.K. to the area to bring them back, but it could take longer than a week to get it done.

On Wednesday, ISIS released a propaganda video with militants speaking in Arabic and Russian. They threatened to carry out more attacks against Russian assets, which would be done in response to the air campaign over Syria that started in late September.

A fighter praises the terrorists in Sinai who carried out the alleged plane attack, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin “the swine.”

Russian Metrojet Flight 9268 took off from the Sharm airport on Saturday morning. About 20 minutes after takeoff, the plane lost contact after reaching an altitude of 31,000 feet. The plane was filled with mainly Russian passengers traveling to St. Petersburg.