No conclusion yet in Russian plane crash, says probe panel

Cairo: An Egyptian-led probe panel investigating the Russian plane crash last week on Saturday said it is considering all possible scenarios for the crash that killed 224 people and has not reached a conclusion yet even as black box data from the plane indicated it was bombed.

"A noise was heard in the last second of a recording taken from the airliner's black boxes. Investigators from Egypt, Russia, France and Ireland are still in the process of investigating the sound's source, along with the other evidence," Captain Ayman El-Moqadem, the head of the Egyptian- led investigations committee said.

Sources close to the investigation said black box data indicate the plane was attacked and met a "sudden, violent end".

Earlier today, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that foreign countries did not pay attention to Egypt's calls for greater coordination to fight terrorism and have not shared intelligence with Cairo about the crash of the Russian passenger plane.

"The information we have heard about has not been shared with Egyptian security agencies in detail," Shoukry told a news conference here, adding, "We were expecting that the technical information would be provided to us."

The minister's remarks came in the backdrop of several countries suspending flights to the Sinai resort of Sharm al-Sheikh fearing security arrangements at the popular resort town where thousands of European tourists are now stranded.

Russia and Egypt had initially dismissed a claim that Islamic State jihadists downed the plane but with mounting evidence emerging that the plane was attacked, several countries including the UK and Russia have suspended their flight operations to Egypt.