Cameron says jet crash most likely caused by a bomb blast
Print Edition
BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday it was “more likely than not” that a bomb brought down a Metrojet flight packed with Russian vacationers — a scenario that officials from Russia and Egypt have tried to dismiss as premature speculation.
Cameron said he had grounded all flights to and from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, stranding thousands of British tourists at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, because of “intelligence and information” indicating that a bomb was the likely culprit in Saturday’s crash that killed 224 people.
Islamic State group said it brought down the plane, a report rejected by Russian and Egyptian officials as not credible. Egypt is fighting an Islamic insurgency in the area where the plane crashed.
Cameron said he had “every sympathy” with the Egyptians, who rely on tourism, but said he had to “put the safety of British people first.”
“We don’t know for certain that it was a terrorist bomb ... (but it’s a) strong possibility,” Cameron said shortly before a previously scheduled meeting with Egypt’s president.
“There’s still an investigation taking place in Egypt. We need to see the results of that.”
He said he would call Russian President Vladimir Putin later yesterday to discuss the crash.
A British team is working to tighten security at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport with an eye toward resuming flights. Cameron said “we want to start as soon as possible” to bring tourists home, and empty planes will be flying out from Britain to do that, but it will take time.
Egypt’s minister of civil aviation, Hossam Kamal, said yesterday that the country’s airports comply with international security standards and said “the investigation team does not have yet any evidence or data confirming this hypothesis” of a bomb bringing down the plane.
A spokesman for Putin, Dmitry Peskov, said aviation investigators were working on all possible theories as to why the Airbus A321-200 crashed 23 minutes after taking off, killing everyone on board. He said naming just one possibility was mere speculation.
“One can’t rule out a single theory, but at this point there are no reasons to voice just one theory as reliable,” he told reporters in Moscow.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said if Britain had information about a bomb on the plane, it’s “really shocking” that hasn’t been shared with Russia. She urged Britain to immediately give any such information to the investigators.
Egyptian officials have condemned Britain’s travel ban as an overreaction.
In the ancient city of Luxor, Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mamdouh Eldamaty rejected the US and British bomb allegations outright.
“(The crash) is not a terror act. It was an accident,” he said as authorities opened three tombs to the public for the first time in a bid to encourage tourism.
“(It’s) very sad what happened, but we have to wait for the result of the investigation.”
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