Plane crash

Sharm el-Sheikh and the Russian plane crash – what we know

At 04:13 GMT, at an altitude of 9,450m (31,000ft) flight speed suddenly dropped and the aircraft started rapidly losing height. US media reported that US satellites had seen a “heat flash” on the aircraft at this time. All analysis suggests that the aircraft broke up at this stage. The crew did not transmit a mayday message.

The ISIS affiliated Wilayat Sinai group released a statement on Saturday 29th saying, “The fighters of the Islamic State were able to down a Russian plane over Sinai province that was carrying over 220 Russian crusaders. They were all killed, thanks be to God.” At the same time they posted a video, seen by the SecurityNewsDesk team supposedly showing a missile being fired at an airliner and hitting it. It was only suggested that it was this missile that hit the aircraft. The wording of their statement only said “downed”, not shot down.