US detects heat around doomed Russian
jet just before crash
U.S. satellite imagery detected heat around a Russian
passenger jet just before it went down in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, two U.S.
officials said Tuesday. But the discovery doesn't resolve the mystery of why
the plane crashed, killing all 224 aboard.
A missile striking the Metrojet Airbus A321-200 was ruled
out because neither a launch nor an engine burn had been detected, one of the
officials said. The infrared activity that was detected could mean many things,
including a bomb blast or that an engine on the plane exploded due to a
malfunction. Aviation analyst Paul Beaver said the heat picked up by the
satellite "indicates that there was a catastrophic explosion or disintegration
of the airplane," but doesn't reveal the cause.
"It doesn't tell us if it was a bomb ... or if somebody
had a fight in the airplane with a gun — there is a whole raft of things that
could happen in this regard," he said. It also could indicate a fuel tank
or engine exploding, although "engines are designed so that if something
malfunctions or breaks off, it is contained within the engine," Beaver
added.
A woman reacts standing at pictures of the plane crash
victims are attached to the fence at Dvortsov . Both U.S. officials spoke
on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the
information publicly.
Some aviation experts had earlier suggested a bomb was the
most likely cause of Saturday's crash, while some others pointed at a 2001
incident in which the jet damaged its tail during landing.
The Metrojet was flying from Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm
el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg when it crashed in the Sinai Peninsula after breaking
up at high altitude, Russian aviation officials said.
Islamic State militants said they had "brought
down" the Russian plane because of Moscow's recent military intervention
in Syria against the extremist group. But the group did not provide any evidence
to support its claim, and militants in northern Sinai have not shot down any
commercial airliners or fighter jets.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi called that claim
"propaganda" aimed at damaging the country's image, and he insisted
the security situation in the Sinai Peninsula is under "full
control."
Pictures of the plane crash victims are attached to the
fence at Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square in St.Petersburg. In an interview with the
BBC, el-Sissi also reiterated that the cause of the crash may not be known for
months and said there should be no speculation about it. President Vladimir
Putin said Russia will keep fighting terrorism in Syria and elsewhere, adding
that no one will succeed in scaring it.
His spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, rejected any connection
between the crash and the Russian military action in Syria, saying there is no
reason to link them. An international team of experts prepared to analyze the
plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders, the so-called "black
boxes."
The joint investigation committee, which includes Egyptian,
Russian, French and German experts as well as representatives from Ireland,
where the plane was registered, was wrapping up its last field inspection at
the crash site. It will start working on the recorders, said Egyptian Civil
Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal.
People light candles and lay flowers in memory of the plane
crash victims at Dvortsovaya (Palace) Sq …
Kamal says it "will take some time" to produce the
final report and that the committee "has all the tools and experts to deal
with the investigation." Russian
Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said in televised remarks that Russian experts
already had conducted a preliminary inspection of the recorders and had seen
information from Egypt's flight control radars, but he wouldn't give further
details.
As the investigation moved forward, more of the dead were
brought to St. Petersburg. Alexei Smirnov of the Russian Emergency Situations
Ministry said government planes have brought 140 bodies and other human remains
so far, and families have identified 19 victims.
Mourners continued to come to St. Petersburg's Pulkovo
airport to lay flowers, toys and other tributes. On the outskirts of town,
tearful relatives of the victims left a crematorium where the identification
process took place.
Alexander Agafonov, head of the Russian rescue mission in
Egypt, said in a televised conference with other officials that searchers found
no more bodies Tuesday after combing an area of 28 square kilometers (10.8
square miles). Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov said the site
"should be studied centimeter by centimeter."
"If you need to sift through the sand where the remains
or pieces of the fuselage could be, do it," he said.
Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov and Nataliya
Vasilyeva in Moscow, Brian Rohan in Cairo, Jill Lawless in London, Lolita C.
Baldor and Ken Dilanian in Washington, and Ivan Sekretarev in St. Petersburg
contributed to this report.
Source: AP