Multiple theories still surround crash of Russia’s Kogalymavia flight KGL9268

In what has been described as Russia’s worst ever plane crash, at 04:17 GMT Saturday Kogalymavia flight KGL 9268 flying from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to St Petersburg, Russia, suffered a catastrophic failure at high altitude and disintegrated above the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, killing all 224 passengers and crew on board, most of who were Russian. Speculation now surrounds the reason for the crash and while early on both Egyptian and Russian governments were quick to blame the crash on mechanical failure, 24 hours later it was clear that a terrorist attack was not being ruled out.
What is known is that the pilot and co-pilot had no time to issue a distress signal, indicating a sudden and immediate catastrophe. Jihadists allied to what is called Islamic State (IS) have claimed responsibility for the downing of the plane, though they did not make it clear how this was done. Egypt’s Prime Minister, Sharif Ismail said experts had made it clear that no plane could not be brought down at an altitude of 9,450m (31,000ft), the level the Airbus 321 was flying at, by any weapons the militants were currently known to have in their possession. However there were clear indications that with the plane disintegrating at altitude, a bomb on board the plane could not be ruled out as a cause for the crash.
In addition, the wife of the plane’s co-pilot Sergei Trukachev, said he had raised his concerns regarding the condition of the Airbus’ plane to his family prior to takeoff. “He complained before the flight that the technical condition of the aircraft left much to be desired,” his wife, Natalya Trukhacheva told Russian state television. Egypt’s civil aviation minister, Hossam Kamal, dismissed any rumors concerning problems on board the flight, contradicting previous reports that the pilot had requested to make an emergency landing.
By Monday morning 166 of the bodies had been recovered from the crash site which was spread over 8 square miles of the Sinai Peninsula, and 144 of them flown back to St Petersburg, while a second flight is expected to return with more of the victims’ bodies on Monday evening. In the meantime both the plane’s recorders have been found and sent off for analysis.
As a result of the speculation surrounding the possibility of a terrorist attack, Emirates, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, and Qatar Airways have chosen not to fly over the Sinai Peninsula until further information is made available, while flydubai and Air Arabia also said they would re-route flights. Etihad Airways indicated it would avoid only “certain areas of airspace” over Sinai. Germany’s transport ministry has advised German airlines to avoid the same route taken by the Russian plane. British airlines had stopped flying over the northern and central parts of the Sinai Peninsula after the UK government issued a safety warning in December 2014 not to fly below 25,000 feet, however airline sources said UK operators had stopped flying there altogether.