An official from Russian plane company Metrojet says that a technical fault might not have caused its plane to crash in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula over the weekend.
Metrojet Deputy General Director Alexander Smirnov told reporters on Monday in Moscow that the crash "could only have been a mechanical impact on the plane" in the air, and that no technical fault could have made the Airbus A320-200 to break while up in the air.
Investigators from Russia say that the plane disintegrated at a high altitude, but have avoided identifying other possible causes, according to the Associated Press.
Forensic experts have now been sent in to examine the bodies of the 224 passengers and cabin crew members of the plane crash. Most of the passengers were Russian.
Meanwhile, Russian and Egyptian officials have denied claims made by the Islamic State (IS) group in Egypt that they were the ones responsible for downing the plane, calling the claims "inaccurate."
Authorities in Egypt have no such information that would confirm such insinuations," the Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov said, HNGN previously reported.
Egyptian Prime Minister Sharif Ismail added: "Experts have affirmed that technically planes at this altitude cannot be shot down, and the black box will be the one that will reveal the reasons for the crash."
