The Egypt-led committee tasked with investigating the causes of the Russian airliner crash last October in North Sinai, has yet to reach any results on its causes, sources within the aviation ministry said on Tuesday.
Almost 11 months ago, the charter flight operated by Russian airline Metrojet broke up midair 23 minutes after takeoff from Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh Airport as it headed to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 passengers and crew on board.
The sources said the committee is still examining the flight’s debris but discovered that the tail part of the broken flight is where the disintegration had most likely occurred.
The statements came after Russian newspaper Kommersant reported, citing experts, that “terrorists” planted a timed handmade bomb in the rear section of the plane, where the baby carriages were kept.
Egypt’s most active militant group in North Sinai known as Sinai Province, affiliated with Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for downing the plane twice.
The Islamic State group had published last November a photo of the improvised explosive device (IED) they allegedly used to bring down the flight.
Russia maintains that the crash was due to a "terrorist attack," while Egypt says that evidence is still lacking as to the cause of the crash.
The Kremlin said that the Russian investigation concluded that homemade explosive device equivalent up to 1 kg of TNT was set off on board.
Moscow suspended all flights to Egypt since the crash.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi acknowledged for the first time in a February speech that the plane was downed by terrorists seeking to damage its tourism industry and ties with Moscow.
