The Egyptian branch of the jihadist group Islamic State (EI) said on Saturday (31) in the Twitter was responsible for the fall of the Russian airline's aircraft KogalimAvia, also known as Metrojet, which fell in the Egyptian Sinai, causing 224 deaths. The information is the news agencies AFP and Reuters.
Despite the group's claim, a first analysis of the accident site indicates that the decline could have been caused by a technical failure. Said an official control of the airspace in Egypt, the pilot reported a technical problem in the communications equipment. In addition, the Russian Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov, said the information should not be considered reliable.
"Soldiers of the Caliphate were able to take down a Russian plane in the province of Sinai carrying more than 220 crusaders were all dead," said the extremist group in a statement posted on their Twitter accounts, indicating that acted in retaliation for Russian intervention in Syria. Russia decided to intervene in the Syrian conflict to support the government of Bashar al-Assad, and says bomb group targets the Islamic State and other "terrorist" groups opposed to power.
The Metrojet flight left a city on the coast of Egypt and bound for St. Petersburg, Russia. The Airbus A-321 was carrying 217 passengers, including 138 women, 62 men and 17 children, plus 7 crew.According to Reuters, 214 were Russian and three Ukrainians.
The Egyptian government confirmed that all died.About 150 bodies were found in a radius of 5km."Now I see a tragic scene. Many dead on the floor and as many still stuck in their seats," he reported an Egyptian authority. He said the plane was divided into two parts.
The Egyptian Prime Minister Ismail Sharif, confirmed the accident in a statement. The plane lost contact with the radar 23 minutes after takeoff when flying over the city of Larnaka, said a spokesman for Rosaviatsia, civil aviation agency of Russia. Contact was lost when the aircraft was at 30,000 feet (9,144 m). Military experts questioned by AFP consider that the insurgents EI, present in northern Sinai, do not have missiles capable of reaching a plane at 30,000 feet. But they do not exclude the possibility of a bomb on board, or which has been hit by a rocket when down due to technical problems. In addition, the Russian Minister of Transport said that the Egyptian authorities have no information confirming the group's statement jihadist. "Based on our contact with the Egyptian side, the information that the plane was shot down should not be considered reliable," said Maxim Sokolov, according to the Interfax news agency. Adel Mahgoub, head of the state company that manages the airports in Egypt, He said the aircraft went through a technical control before taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport.
The two black boxes, which record flight data and cockpit voice commands, were recovered.Previously, office first Egyptian Minister Ismail Sharif announced about one of them: "The black box was recovered from the tail and was sent for expert analysis," he said. It will be impossible to determine the cause of the accident to the analysis of black box he added.
The plane crashed in a mountainous area in the Sinai Center and bad weather hampered the access of rescue teams to the site, according to Egyptian security authority who had just arrived at the site told Reuters. About 50 ambulances were sent to the scene. Passengers' bodies are being flown to Cairo. So far 129 bodies have been recovered, said the Egyptian prime minister.
Relatives ask for information about the crash at St. Petersburg airport (Photo: AP Photo / Dmitry Lovetsk)
DNA samples will be collected from relatives of the passengers who were on board the plane, as informed the social policy committee of Russia.
Passengers' relatives are gathering in Kogalymavia the information desk at the Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg, hoping to get more information. The flight 9268 was carrying many tourists in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Family members were in shock, searching for information in the Russian airport. (Photo: Reuters)
Russian rescue teams in Egypt
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his "deep condolences" to the families of the victims and ordered the deployment of Russian emergency teams to the crash site. Putin decreed national mourning on Sunday (1st).
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in a message posted on Twitter, which is deeply shocked by the crash. "The tragedy will be thoroughly investigated, and families receive support."Putin spoke on the phone with Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, president of Egypt, to discuss the fall of the Russian aircraft in the country. Al-Sisi offered deep condolences and promised to create conditions for the widest possible participation of Russian experts in the investigation of the accident, according to the Kremlin.
According to Russian news agency, Russia's defense minister called a meeting of ermergência to discuss the plane crash. In all, five aircraft with experts in various fields are the way to Egypt.
Wreckage of the plane that crashed on Saturday (31) is seen in Hassana, in the Egyptian Sinai (Photo: Suliman el-Oteify, Egypt Prime Minister & # 39; s Office via AP)
Russia's Investigation Committee has launched a criminal case against the airline Kogalymavia.The news agency RIA reported that the case will be investigated by the article "violation of the rules of flights and preparations".
Details aircraft
Airbus, the A-321 manufacturer, said it will provide more information as it has more details about the accident. See the full text of the statement from the company:
Photo taken on Oct. 20 shows an Airbus A321 of Kogalymavia company, at Moscow airport (photo: AP)
"The aircraft involved in the accident, registered under the number of EI-ETJ 663 series, was produced in 1997 and since 2012 operated by Metrojet. The aircraft had accumulated about 56,000 flight hours in some 21,000 flights. It has been fitted with engines IAE V2500.
Pursuant to the law, a group of Airbus technicians was deployed to provide the information to the authorities responsible for the investigation.
The A321-200 is the largest member of the A320 family, with capacity for 240 passengers. The first A321 entered service in January 1994. By the end of September 2015, about 6,500 A320 Family aircraft were in service with more than 300 operators. To date, the entire fleet has accumulated nearly 168 million flight hours on 92.5 million flights.
Airbus will provide more information available as soon as the details are confirmed and released by the authorities to the disclosure. "
Last plane crash in Egypt
The last plane crash in Egypt was in January 2004 and made 148 dead, including 134 French tourists. A Boeing 737 of the Egyptian company Flash Airlines crashed into the Red Sea, a few minutes after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport.
Since the start in 2011 of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak from power, tourism is weak and the authorities try to revive in every way this vital sector of the Egyptian economy.
Despite the political instability of the country and the jihadist attacks against security forces in northern Sinai, the resorts of the Red Sea in the south of the peninsula, remain one of the top tourist destinations in the country and much frequented by Russian tourists and Eastern Europe which arrive daily aboard several charter flights.
Islamic State
Islamic state (EI), also known as Daesh or ISIS, is a radical Sunni group (one of the branches of Islam) created from the Al-Qaeda Iraq arm, the known network responsible for the September 11 attacks 2001 in the United States.
ith greater capacity for recruitment, more structure and a conquered territory between Iraq and Syria, EI has attracted thousands of young people around the world - according to the radicalism of the Center, more than 20 000 foreigners from 50 countries joined Sunni radical groups in 2014 - among them, mainly the Islamic State.
The EI follows a radical reading of Islamic scriptures and has a sectarian vision antixiita.A sharia, Islamic law, is followed rigidly and practices such as beheading enemies and the death penalty for homosexuals are widely used.
The EI is governed by self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr al-Bagdadi, two deputies and some advisors that assist with issues of religious differences, executions and political affairs. In April, the newspaper "The Guardian" reported that al-Bagdadi was seriously injured after an air strike in Iraq carried out by the international coalition led by the United States, but the very EI has not released anything about it.
The Islamic State originated amid terrorist practices of al-Qaeda, but has developed its own way of acting. Among the differences that caused the separation of the two groups are the appropriation of territories and the creation of a caliphate.
The EI also uses widespread violence against Shiite Muslims - as well as non-Islamic, which they call "infidels." The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated that over 2,600 people were executed by EI since the proclamation of his caliphate.
Inside the caliphate, living rules are strict and based on the sharia - Islamic law. Another innovation in relation to Al-Qaeda is paying for the fighters. According to a magazine report "The Economist", each guerrilla fighting in group name receives a salary of $ 400 per month and higher than the jihadist groups that Iraqi or Syrian Army pays its fighters. Plus a monthly contribution, the militants get money to get married, to help them start a family.
