A member of the Egyptian team investigating the deadly crash of a Russian passenger jet in the Sinai Peninsula has been quoted as saying that he and his colleagues are "90 percent sure" the plane was brought down by a bomb.
Reuters, which reported the unnamed team member's comments, said he had asked not to be named due to "sensitivities."
"The indications and analysis so far of the sound on the black box indicate it was a bomb," the investigator added. His comments are the first reported acknowledgement from anyone connected with the investigation that the Airbus A321-200 was the target of an attack.
Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed on Oct. 31, 23 minutes after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport. All 224 people on board, most of them Russian vacationers returning to their homes, were killed.
Over the course of the past week, U.S. and U.K. investigators, relying on intercepted communications and other intelligence, have suggested that a bomb carried out by Islamist militants was the likely cause of the disaster. However, Russian and Egyptian authorities initially dismissed claims of responsibility by the ISIS terror group before publicly insisted that other possible causes could not be ruled out.
Britain and several airlines have stopped normally scheduled flights to the Red Sea resort city, while Russia has suspended all flights to Egypt because of security concerns. British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond told the BBC on Sunday that if the bomb is confirmed, it will require a potential rethinking of airport security in all areas where the extremist group is active.
Meanwhile, the first of three teams of Russian inspectors was dispatched to the country to examine airport security. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich did not give details on what specific security issues the inspections teams would be examining. Dvorkovich said that 11,000 Russians were flown home from Egypt on Saturday and an even larger number were expected to leave Sunday, according to Russian news agencies.
Egyptian airport and security officials told The Associated Press on Saturday that authorities were questioning airport staff and ground crew who worked on the plane and had placed some employees under surveillance. The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Security officials at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport have told The Associated Press that the facility has long had gaps in security, including a key baggage scanning device that often is not functioning and lax searches at an entry gate for food and fuel for the planes. One security official said drugs and weapons slip through security checks at the airport because poorly paid policemen monitoring X-ray machines can be bribed.
A spokesman for Egypt's Aviation Ministry, Mohamed Rahma, dismissed the accounts of inadequate security, saying "Sharm el-Sheikh is one of the safest airports in the world," without elaborating.
Egyptian authorities have bristled at the allegations of lax security, with some blaming an anti-Egypt bias in the foreign media. Those sensitivities were on display Sunday as foreign camera crews were prevented from filming inside the Sharm el-Sheikh airport, along the city's main tourist strip in Naama Bay, or in other public spaces.
Despite strong government denials, the suggestions of a major security breach at Sharm el-Sheikh airport have gained traction among some Egyptians. On Saturday an Associated Press reporter at Cairo airport witnessed several passengers yelling at security personnel to pay more attention to the X-ray scanner, with one man repeatedly shouting, "This is what happened in Sharm!"
In Russia, more than a thousand mourners packed into the landmark St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg for a memorial service for the victims. Attendees lit candles and stood in silence as the cathedral bells rang 224 times to remember each victim.
"We came to the service today with all our family to support the people in our common grief," said Galina Stepanova, 58.
Stepanova said she believed the plane was downed by a bomb, but said that Russia should continue its airstrike campaign against the Islamic State group and other insurgents in Syria.
"We have a rightful cause to help Syria in its fight against terrorism," she said.
Mikhail Vishnyakov, a 42-year-old sales manager who attended the service with his family, said he did not want to rush to conclusions about the cause of the plane crash until the investigation was complete.
"If it was a terrorist act, I don't think it was directed exactly against Russia. It could well be directed against any other plane of any other country. It was for a good reason that other countries began to take their tourists from Egypt," Vishnyakov said.
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