A plane carrying the remains of 144 people killed when a Russian airliner crashed in Egypt landed in Saint Petersburg early today, hours after investigators probing the doomed flight said it had broken up in the air.


The emergency Russian plane, the first to bring back the bodies of those who died when the A-321 plummeted from the sky above the restive Sinai Peninsula, arrived in the Pulkovo airport of Russia's second-largest city.


Investigators from several countries have joined an Egypt-led probe to determine what brought down Russian airline Kogalymavia's flight 9268 on Saturday, killing all 224 people on board, en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to Saint Petersburg.


They have recovered the "black box" flight recorders of the Airbus, and the head of an Irish mission that will join the Egypt-led probe into the disaster said the results from the recorders should be ready in a few days.


The head of the Russian air transport agency Alexander Neradko on Sunday said it appeared the aircraft disintegrated while flying at high altitude, echoing similar comments from other top aviation officials. "All signs prove that the structure of the plane disintegrated in the air at a high altitude," he told Russian state television.