Moscow, November 2

The Russian passenger jet that crashed in Egypt killing all 224 people on board came down due to “external” factors, the airline said today, as relatives began identifying their loved ones in Saint Petersburg.

Senior Kogalymavia executive Alexander Smirnov said that “no technical failures” could account for why the Airbus 321 would have broken up in mid-air, as investigators have said happened.

“The only explanation is some kind of external action,” Smirnov told a news conference in Moscow, without elaborating, adding that the doomed jet was in “excellent technical condition”.

Both Cairo and Moscow have played down the claim from Egypt’s IS branch that it brought down the aircraft flown by Kogalymavia between holiday destination Sharm el-Sheikh and Russia’s second largest city on Saturday.

Investigators are examining all possible causes as they comb the remote crash site in the Sinai peninsula as part of an Egyptian-led probe into the disaster that also involves experts from Russia, France and Airbus. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow “cannot exclude any version” of what caused the crash as investigations were still ongoing, but warned against “guessing” at the reason.

Kogalymavia’s executive Smirnov said the firm ruled out a technical fault or human error and said the plane had sustained “significant damage to its construction that did not allow it to continue the flight.”

“The crew totally lost control and for that reason there was not one attempt to get in contact and report on the accident situation on board,” Smirnov said.

The plane was “flying out of control — that is, it wasn’t flying, it was falling,” he said.

The claims by the airline came as relatives of those who died in the crash began the painful process of identifying their loved ones after a first plane delivered the remains of 140 victims to Saint Petersburg.

“The process of identification has begun. It is complex, meticulous work,” Saint Petersburg deputy governor Igor Albin told journalists outside the crematorium where the remains are being stored.

Family members had already been providing DNA samples at a crisis centre set up close to Saint Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport. Russian officials said that a second plane was set to repatriate more bodies later today evening, but did not say how many.

Investigators in the Egyptian-led probe returned to the vast crash site today, an official told AFP, without giving the nationalities of those involved.

The crash site in the Wadi al-Zolomat area of North Sinai was littered with blackened aircraft parts and the smell of burnt metal lingered on yesterday.

Experts have dismissed claims from an IS-affiliated insurgency group in the Sinai that it brought down the aircraft in revenge for Russian air strikes against the jihadist group in Syria.

They argue the militants have neither the technology nor the expertise to down a plane flying at 30,000 feet, although Germany’s Lufthansa, Emirates and Air France have all halted flights over Sinai until the reasons for the crash are known. Experts say human or technical error more likely caused the crash — although they concede a surface-to-air missile could have struck the aircraft if it had been flying at a lower altitude for some reason.