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Сriminal experts to analyze possibility of terrorist attack onboard Russian A321 crash

According to the Russian aviation agency official, the commission conducting an investigation into the crash of the A321 jet over the Sinai Peninsula has no versions of its causes at the moment

MOSCOW, November 5. /TASS/. A group of criminal experts will analyze possibility of a terrorist attack on board the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt on Saturday, the head of the Russian aviation agency said on Thursday.

"A criminal group will look for traces of explosives on the plane’s remains, luggage, cabin baggage and bodies of passengers," Sergey Neradko said.

According to him, the commission conducting an investigation into the crash of the A321 jet over the Sinai Peninsula has no versions of its causes at the moment.

"Meticulous and consistent work is underway to gather all evidence relating to this plane crash," he said, urging media not to gamble on various versions of the disaster’s causes.

In Neradko's words, data from the cockpit flight recorder has been retrieved; as for the voice recorder, it is damaged but data can be recovered in the near future.

"The voice recorder that registers all verbal exchanges in the cockpit and also the crew’s contacts with the traffic control services on the ground is damaged somewhat, but data can be recovered from it in the near future. The data from the flight recorder has been retrieved and presented to all members of the panel of inquiry, as well as to all authorized officials taking part in the investigation together with their advisers," Neradko said.

Russian Kogalymavia’s Airbus A321 plane, en-route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, crashed in the early morning of October 31 just some 20 minutes after its takeoff. The disaster site is 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of the administrative center of North Sinai Governorate, the city of Al-Arish.

Flight 9268 carried 217 passengers and seven crewmembers and they were all officially announced dead following the tragic accident. Most passengers were Russian nationals. Among the passengers onboard were also four Ukrainian citizens and one Belarusian national.