Expert: The reason for the crash of A321 is a terrorist attack, and its purpose is a blow to Russia's prestige. Lost flight: what is known about the causes of the A321 crash a year later Cause of the plane crash 321 vbulletin
Late in the evening in the Kremlin, the President arranged a meeting with the participation of the ministers of defense and foreign affairs, the chief of the General Staff, directors of the FSB and the Foreign Intelligence Service. The results of the investigation into the plane crash in Egypt were reported. The head of the FSB confirmed that it was a terrorist attack. On board Russian aircraft the bomb went off.
"Investigations have been carried out on personal belongings, baggage and parts of the aircraft, wrecked in Egypt on the 31st. As a result of the examinations, traces of foreign-made explosives were found on all the items I mentioned. According to our experts, an improvised explosive device with a capacity of up to one kilogram in TNT equivalent went off on board the aircraft in flight. As a result, there was, so to speak, the collapse of the aircraft in the air. What explains the large spread of parts of the aircraft fuselage at such a distance. We can unequivocally say that this is a terrorist act," said the head of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bortnikov.
"This is not the first time Russia has faced barbaric terrorist crimes. Most often for no apparent external or internal reasons. Just like the explosion at the Volgograd railway station at the end of 2013. We have not forgotten anyone or anything. The murder of our people in the Sinai in among the most bloody in terms of the number of victims of crimes. And we will not wipe the tears from our souls and hearts. This will remain with us forever. But this will not prevent us from finding and punishing the criminals. We must do this without a statute of limitations, know them all by name. We We will look for them wherever they hide, we will find them anywhere in the world and punish them," Vladimir Putin said. "At the same time, we must rely on people who share our In this case, the foreign and security policy, the policy of combating terrorism.Our work, the combat work of aviation in Syria, must not only be continued, it must be strengthened in such a way as to the apostates realized that retribution was inevitable."
The President asked the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff to submit relevant proposals and said that he would check how the work was going.
"I ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Russian Federation contact all our partners. In the course of this work, including the search for and punishment of criminals, we count on all our friends. We will act in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, which provides for the right of states to self-defence. All who attempt to assist the criminals should be aware that the consequences of such cover-up attempts will rest entirely on their shoulders. I ask all our special services to focus on this work," the President said.
The FSB of Russia is already taking steps to search for those involved in the terrorist attack on board the Airbus A-321 and is announcing a $50 million reward for information that will help apprehend the criminals.
The plane "Kogalymavia" crashed on the Sinai Peninsula on October 31. Home, to St. Petersburg, from the resort Egyptian city Sharm el-Sheikh returned 217 passengers. All of them, as well as the crew of seven, were killed.
According to experts, the causes of destruction passenger aircraft The Airbus A321 of the Kogalymavia airline in the air could become a shock wave from the explosion of a small bomb, detached engine parts or fatigue cracks that appeared in the supporting structures, the Kommersant newspaper writes on Monday, November 2.
Experts call one of the versions of the plane crash a bomb explosion in the luggage compartment, which could lead to explosive depressurization of the plane due to a sharp pressure drop. A similar situation occurred with a Pan American Boeing 747 that crashed in December 1988. Then the experts could not understand for a long time what caused the crash of the liner, but after all the fragments of the aircraft found were collected, they saw a hole in one of the fuselage skin sheets with outwardly curved edges the size of a watermelon. Experts have determined that a plastite-based bomb was planted in a small transistor and exploded in the suitcase of one of the passengers in the luggage compartment. This passenger, who did not board the plane himself, was then a terrorist from Libya.
The source told the publication that, among other things, there is a version that the integrity of the airliner could be broken by a fatigue crack that probably occurred in the fuselage frame. In 2001, an Airbus A321 aircraft, which did not yet belong to Kogalymavia, hit the runway with its tail section while landing at Cairo airport. This accident, which is called "fifth touch" in aviation, led to a violation of the geometry of the structure and the flight characteristics of the aircraft. A specialist interviewed by the publication believes that after an unsuccessful landing, the aircraft was checked by non-destructive testing and put into operation only after all defects were corrected.
“The statistics of an accident-free flight of Airbus 321 aircraft is about 11-12 million hours. If an accident does occur, it means that something was overlooked during maintenance or repair, ”the expert explained to Kommersant.
Another cause of depressurization could be a faulty engine. With non-localized destruction of the turbine, the blades torn off from it, as experts say, fly out at great speed and, moving in the same plane, cut the wing and fuselage of the liner like a grinder saw blade.
The interlocutors of the newspaper note that the exact cause of the A321 crash will not be easy to establish. The readings of the black boxes will show how all the systems of the aircraft functioned, as well as what measures the crew took. Probably, the last conversations of the crew members will tell the experts the cause of the crash, if they managed to understand and discuss the cause of the crash of the liner. However, for a full investigation, it is necessary to collect all the wreckage of the aircraft and restore the contour of the crashed airliner from them.
It was established that the A321, when falling from a height, turned over and "literally fell on its back," Interfax reported on Monday, citing an informed source in Cairo. The interlocutor of the agency also said that the crew did not inform ground services about problems on board, did not give distress signals and did not request an emergency landing. At the same time, the source emphasized that it was premature to build any versions about the causes of the crash.
On the morning of October 31, the Russian passenger Airbus A321 of the Kogalymavia airline crashed over the Sinai Peninsula during a flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. There were 224 people on board the plane, all of them died. The causes of the crash are being established. The black boxes of the A321 were found on Saturday at the crash site, and experts in Egypt deciphered them on Sunday. The IAC said that the airliner is in the air.
Hot topic: state of emergency
Explosion on board most likely cause of A321 crash, Stratfor says
According to them, the explosive device was carried in hand luggage.
Experts from the private American intelligence and analytical company Stratfor believe that the most likely cause of the crash over Egypt was the smuggling of an explosive device on board an Airbus A321. This is stated in the published report of the organization.
“While we cannot completely rule out the possibility of an aircraft failure, such an explanation would be unusual given the circumstances of the crash,” the authors of the report say. According to them, most air crashes that occur due to aircraft equipment failure occur during takeoff and landing, when the mechanical load on the aircraft increases. "The plane rarely breaks down while flying at altitude," experts say.
The report also states that in the event of equipment failure, the pilots of the liner would most likely be able to maneuver, and the aircraft would have flown before contact with the ground without any catastrophic consequences.
In addition, analysts consider it unlikely that the plane was shot down by militants of the Islamic State (the group is banned in the Russian Federation) from the Sinai Peninsula. “While militants in the area were able to use MANPADS to shoot down an Egyptian helicopter and fire missiles at an Israeli aircraft, Flight 9268 was out of range,” the report said.
"Given the improbability of alternative scenarios, it seems that the most likely explanation for the plane crash is the presence of an explosive device on board," the authors of the report conclude. In their opinion, the explosive device was carried in hand luggage.
Earlier, CBS News reported that an American satellite recorded in the infrared spectrum over the Sinai Peninsula at the time of the fall of the Russian A321 in Egypt.
On the morning of October 31, the Russian passenger plane Airbus A321 of the Kogalymavia airline crashed over the Sinai Peninsula during a flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. All 224 people on board the plane were killed. On Saturday, the A321 flight recorders were found at the crash site, and on Sunday experts in Egypt began deciphering them. The IAC reported that the airliner collapsed in the air.
Now close attention is paid to the results of processing black boxes. It is reported that both were found, but one, where the pilots' conversations are contained, is damaged, special care is required in the process of extracting data. Previously unnamed sources informed that the conversations of the pilots did not indicate any abnormal situation, say, technical malfunctions, although some strange noises were mentioned, but there is no specific information on this yet.
Apparently, the search at the crash site is nearing completion. The wreckage of the aircraft and the remains of the bodies of the dead are scattered over a large area. Over 30 square kilometers have already been carefully examined, as stated, if necessary, the impact area will be checked down to a centimeter. By the end of today, the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Vladimir Puchkov, set the task of completing the work as planned.
Alexander Agafonov, Director of the Department of Fire, Rescue and Special Forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation: “The main efforts today were focused on hard-to-reach areas, including with the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle. In the morning after the departure of the IAC, an additional decision was made to further examine the large burnt wreckage of the aircraft.
The British authorities, without waiting for the end of the investigation, made their hasty conclusions and took action. The version of an explosive device was put forward among others from the very beginning of the investigation. The authorities of Egypt and Russia asked to wait until the end of the investigation. So far, there has been no reliable evidence of sabotage.
Egyptian authorities categorically state that it is impossible to carry a bomb on board, they say, Sharm el-Sheikh airport is famous for its reliability. The Egyptians reacted with displeasure to reports from the United States and Great Britain about inside the "Islamic State" (the organization is banned in the Russian Federation), which indicate an explosive device.
Suspicions, according to the media, fall primarily on service personnel who could be bribed or recruited. The British are already taking concrete measures in this regard. Immediately after the disaster they for their airlines from Egypt to the UK. As a result of an urgent discussion, it was decided to stop flights from the UK to the Egyptian resort, and citizens of the country were advised not to go there.
Philip Hammond, British Foreign Secretary: “At a meeting of the emergency committee chaired by the Prime Minister, we carefully studied the information about the crash of the Russian liner in the Sinai and came to the conclusion that an explosive device on board was most likely the cause of the crash, therefore we are canceling all flights of national carriers in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Every year, 900,000 British people spend their holidays in Egypt. At least 2,000 people from the United Kingdom are now stuck in the resorts, and it is not yet known how they should get to their homeland. As transmits NTV columnist Vladimir Kondratiev, British specialists are checking Egyptian security measures on the spot. It is reported that the former director of the airport in Sharm el-Sheikh has been removed from his post. True, he remained to help the new leader.
Egypt, which employs a lot of people in the tourism industry, it is important to preserve the image. The Russian media reported that so far the investigators have not found any traces of a mine-explosive nature, so the version of the explosion remains just one of the versions.
To date, 58 victims of the crash have been identified, including all crew members. . Genetic examinations will take a long time, perhaps the process will drag on for months.
Today in St. Petersburg, the funeral of the victims, who have been 100% identified, begins. Authorities are handing over identified bodies to loved ones. Also from today, cash payments to the families of the victims begin.
