Russian plane black boxes point to bomb attack, Putin halts flights

November 07, 2015 01:36

An analysis of black boxes from the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt point to a bomb attack, sources close to the probe said today, as Moscow halted flights to the country.

The flight data and voice recorders showed "everything was normal" until both failed at 24 minutes after takeoff, pointing to "a very sudden explosive decompression," one source said.

The data "strongly favours" the theory a bomb on board had brought down the plane, he added.

Another source said the plane had gone down suddenly and violently.

Meanwhile, British airlines were scrambling to evacuate passengers in Sharm el-Sheikh after cancelling flights to the Red Sea resort from which the doomed Airbus had taken off Saturday.

One of the black boxes recovered from the crash site showed that the plane suffered "a violent, sudden" end, a source close to the case in Paris told AFP.

The flight data recorder showed that "everything was normal during the flight, absolutely normal, and suddenly there was nothing".

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

Verstappen wins first sprint race of the F1 season

Max Verstappen won the first sprint race of the Formula One season at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday.

Should Dhoni bat higher up the order?

West Indies batting great Brian Lara believes CSK's Mahendra Singh Dhoni won't consider a promotion in the batting order.

Can Gukesh maintain lead in Candidates' Chess?

Gukesh to clash with Alireza on what promises to be a photo finish

Struggling Punjab Kings, Gujarat Titans in battle of cellar teams

Their campaigns wobbling after a string of defeats, bottom-rung teams Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans will be desperate to arrest the slide and get back to winning ways in their Indian Premier League match in Mullanpur on Sunday.

It's perform or perish time for RCB against KKR

With five consecutive defeats, bottom-placed RCB have the daunting task of winning their remaining seven games to keep their play-off prospects alive.