A plane crash killing 224 Russian citizens over Egypt’s Sinai province took the world by surprise on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015. Questions have since arisen about what could have caused the incident. Egyptian news outlets reported that the pilot of the doomed plane out of Sharm el-Sheikh—in Southern Egypt—had radioed air traffic control about technical issues and was going to attempt an emergency landing at El-Arish airport in Northern Egypt. Somewhere above Sinai province, the plane began descending at a rate of 6000 feet-per-minute, according to Flightradar24, a website that tracks flights around the world. The pilot of the plane had been in contact with air traffic control for about 20 minutes of flight time, after which communications with the plane went silent.
The flight solely contained Russian passengers. It was operated by Russian airline contractor Kogalymavia under the name Metrojet Flight 7K9268.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the establishment of a state commission to investigate the crash shortly, on Oct. 31, 205. The Russian government also sent a plane from its emergency services to take a team of investigators to the scene.
The Russian investigators have since claimed that there were no problems with the plane and that, although the Airbus model was 18-years-old, the machine was working properly. Anonymous sources told Russian media that the crew had recently complained about problems with the plane’s operation and functionality of one of the two engines.
The United States, normally the first country to commit investigation into air crashes, has not acted on the incident. On Nov. 5, 2015, the White House press secretary explained that America’s lack of involvement was as a result of the lack of American citizens on board the flight, and any intervention from the United States would be out of place.
President Obama, when asked about allegations of terrorist involvement said, “I don’t think we know yet.”
Within hours of the incident’s reporting, a branch of the Islamic State (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the wreckage. The quote from the Sinai ISIL group did not specify how the plane was destroyed, saying “[w]e are not forced to disclose the mechanism of our downing [the plane].” The statement went on to call the passengers “Russian crusaders” and berated Russia for bombing ISIL members in Syria.
In response to ISIL’s claims, on Nov. 4, 2015, Shadi Hamid, a researcher at the Brookings Institution who studies Islamist movements, said, “ISIL in a sense has already won the public back-and-forth because enough people suspect that ISIL may have done it, and for a group like ISIL the objective reality doesn’t matter—it is a propaganda war.”
ISIL’s claims are the reason that President Obama was asked to comment and the reason that the United States was expected to take part in the investigation. However, the Russian investigation into the airline and the crash itself should be concluded before the general public jumps to the conclusion of terrorism. While it is possible that the plane was destroyed by a bomb or rocket as the statement from the Islamic State group seems to suggest, it is equally as likely that the airline contractor did not do their due-diligence in servicing the plane.
Investigators remain hopeful that data from the cockpit voice recorder can still be recovered, but due to some severe damage they have not been able to access the full recording at the time of writing.