A321 Crash Commission Studies Data on Pilots, Plane Routes, Technical State

The international investigative committee into the Russian A321 crash in Egypt has reviewed all the data on the plane’s technical status and routes, as well as the pilot data, Ayman Mokaddem, who heads the committee, said in a preliminary report obtained by Sputnik on Monday.

CAIRO (Sputnik) — The Russian-operated aircraft, with 224 people on board, crashed over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on October 30, leaving no survivors.

"The operation group within the investigation committee, with the Russian side, examined the pilot information related to their pilot licenses and their medical checks. The technical status, and the detailed repairs that were carried out on the airplane, its structure, systems and engines since the date of production up to the date of the accident, are being studied now," the preliminary report reads.

According to the report, the ill-fated A321 plane’s data recorder indicated that all the flights made by the airplane in the five days before the crash were between Russian and Egyptian airports.

The preliminary report revealed that the committee has not yet obtained any information indicating unlawful interference as the cause of the plane crash.

According to the head of the Russian Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov, the detonation of a homemade explosive device with an equivalent of 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of TNT caused the crash of the Russian plane.

The terrorist group Daesh (ISIL/the Islamic State), which is outlawed in Russia and many other countries, claimed responsibility for the attack.