MOSCOW, Nov. 05 (MNA) – Members of the International Aviation Committee and the special committee of the Russian government are participating in the work of decrypting the data from the black boxes of the Airbus A321 that crashed in Egypt with 224 people on board.

Specialists of the Federal Air Transport Agency (RosAviatsia) and the National Research Committee also integrate the Russian delegation, while rescue forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations continued search efforts in a cordoned-off in the Sinai peninsula.

Egyptian sources, cited by the channel Rossiya 24 reported that the process of analysis of records from the aircraft could extend up to four weeks given the volume of information accumulated in the two black boxes.

The plane of the Kogalymavia company crashed at dawn on Saturday in the Sinai Peninsula, some 20 minutes after takeoff from the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh, bound for St. Petersburg.

As preliminary data, Egyptian experts commented that the crew was surprised by an emergency situation in the passengers' compartment of the aircraft, so there are no records of distress reports or requests of an emergency landing to air traffic controllers.

The Russian specialists have remained cautious about the possible causes of the disaster. Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov said that all possible versions were being considered.

He said that the Russian experts are tasked with reviewing comprehensively all the fragments of the aircraft so as to determine the existence of evidence of a terrorist attack or technical malfunctions.

As per the Russian delegation, that not a single piece of information broadcasted by various official sources is related to the decryption of the records.

Our specialists, said Sokolov, have full authority to conduct their investigations and participate in every stage of the investigation.

An additional group of criminologists from the National Research Committee, chaired by the head of the agency Alexander Bastrykin arrived in Cairo on Tuesday.

The established procedure includes the analysis of all telemetric information, reviewing the material evidence, inspecting the remains of the aircraft, testing, and carrying out a mathematical and digital modeling of the disaster, considered the worst in the history of civil aviation of Russia.

For pilots with years of flying experience, one of the possible causes that brought down the aircraft could have been a depressurization due to some unforeseen event that prevented the crew from reacting quickly.

US news circulated the story that an American infrared satellite registered a thermal explosion at the time of the disaster of the A321, not accompanied by photographic or video evidence.

Commenting on the version of a potential terrorist attack, allegedly recognized by the ISIL structure, the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, called those assertions "propaganda".

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that nobody has been able to, nor will scare Russia. Analysts warned that it is an information and psychological warfare to diminish Moscow's domestic support on the issue of aid to Syria.

Egyptian and Russian experts who participated in examinations of the bodies rejected the presence of traces of any external influence, said TASS.

Meanwhile, the civil defense forces of Russia are continuing the search efforts in a 30-kilometer area at the site of the disaster. Every inch of it will be inspected, said the Minister of Emergency Situations, Vladimir Pushkov.

 

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PL-17/MNA