According to the Egyptian minister in charge of the investigation of the horrific Russian plane crash it is too early to tell what caused the crash, all options including a technical fault are still open and the noise abruptly ending the flight, recorded on one of the black boxes, needs to be analysed. He deplored speculation about the cause and a failure of leading powers to share intelligence with him.
Leaks from various aviation insiders with access to data associated with the investigation tell us that injuries sustained by victims at the back of the plane were blast injuries, whereas those at the front were consistent with violent decompression. They tell us that the aircraft burst apart and broke up at high altitude at the exact moment that military satellites picked up a heat flash, that data reveals the engines were functioning normally right up until the break up and auto pilot was engaged, and that a technical fault has been ruled out. The sound on the tape is assumed to be an explosion. IS militant communications celebrating the successful planting of a bomb have been intercepted.
We all understand that the blow to Egypt’s vital tourist industry will be severe when the terrorist attack is officially confirmed. We all understand that to get the exact particulars of the nature of the bomb, how it was detonated and by whom will take time, as well as the sequences involved in the disintegration of the plane. But by refusing to admit what is thus far well known and to cling to some nostrum of an impossible technical fault in the hope that this will put off the reckoning of why Egyptian airport security allowed it to happen, is to make matters worse not better.