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Russian Airbus A321 crash in Egypt

Media: US President Obama says terrorism possible behind Russian passenger jet’s crash

"I think there is a possibility that there was a bomb on board," President Obama was quoted as saying by CBS. "And we're taking that very seriously."

© Maxim Grigoriev / TASS

NEW YORK, November 6. /TASS/. US President Barack Obama said it was possible that a terrorist attack could be the cause of the Russian passenger airliner’s crash in Egypt last week, CBSnews.com reported.

"I think there is a possibility that there was a bomb on board," President Obama was quoted as saying by CBS. "And we're taking that very seriously."

Read also

Russian transport, emergencies ministers head to A-321 crash scene

"We know that the procedures we have here in the United States are different than some of the procedures that existed for outbound and inbound flights there," Obama said. "We're going to spend a lot of time making sure that our own investigators and our own intelligence community figures out what's going on before we make any definitive pronouncements."

An A321 passenger jet of Russia’s Kogalymavia air carrier (flight 9268) bound to St. Petersburg crashed on October 31 some 30 minutes after the takeoff from Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh. The debris was found 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of the administrative centre of North Sinai Governorate, the city of Al-Arish. All 217 passengers and seven crewmembers were killed. Most passengers were Russian nationals. Among the people onboard were also four Ukrainian citizens and one Belarusian national.

UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Thursday that there was a "significant possibility" that the Russian plane crash in Egypt had been caused "by an explosive device on board the aircraft."

The foreign ministers of Russia and Egypt, Sergey Lavrov and Sameh Shoukry, stated after their telephone conversation on Thursday afternoon that attempts to draw early conclusions about the Airbus A321 crash in Egypt before the official investigation was over were counterproductive.

Read also

Search operation at the Flight 9268 crash site in Egypt

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A321 crash in Egypt

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