Metrojet Flight 9268 (IATA: 7K9268 , Ã, ICAO: KGL9268 ) is an international leased airline flight operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia ( branded Metrojet). On October 31, 2015 at 6:13 am EST (04:13 UTC), an Airbus A321-231 operates an aircraft destroyed by a bomb above northern Sinai after its departure from Sharm El Sheikh International Airport, Egypt, en route to Pulkovo Airport, Saint Petersburg, Russia. All 224 passengers and crew members on board were killed. The cause of the accident was most likely an onboard explosive device as concluded by Russian investigators.
Of the 224 on board flights, most tourists, there are 212 Russians, four Ukrainians, and one Belarusian passenger. There are also 7 crew members. Researchers believe the possibility that a bomb was put into a plane in Sharm El Sheikh is to lead some countries to suspend flights to the airport. With the death toll of 224 people, Flight 9268 is the deadliest air disaster in both the history of Russian aviation and in the Egyptian region. It is also the deadliest air disaster involving the A321 airbus, as well as the deadliest aircraft involving aircraft from the Airbus A320 family, and the deadliest flight disaster of 2015.
Shortly after the accident, the Sinai Branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), formerly known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, claimed responsibility for the incident, which occurred around the Sinai rebellion. ISIL claimed responsibility in Twitter, in the video, and in a statement by Abu Osama al-Masri, the leader of the Sinai group. ISIL posted a picture of what it says is a bomb on Dabiq , its online magazine.
On November 4, 2015, British and American authorities suspect that a bomb was responsible for the accident. On November 8, 2015, an unidentified member of the Egyptian investigation team said investigators were "90 percent sure" that the jet was dropped by a bomb. Lead researcher Ayman al-Muqaddam said that the possible causes of other accidents include fuel explosion, metal fatigue, and overheated lithium batteries. Russia's Federal Security Service announced on Nov. 17 that it believes it was a terrorist attack, caused by an improvised bomb containing the equivalent of 1 kilogram (TNT) of TNT blown up during the flight. The Russians say they have found explosive residue as evidence. On February 24, 2016, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi acknowledged that terrorism caused the accident.
Video Metrojet Flight 9268
Aircraft
The plane was an 18-year-old Airbus A321-231, serial number 663. The aircraft was delivered to Middle East Airlines in May 1997 under the F-OHMP registration code. In 2003, it was leased by Onur Air and, starting in 2007, it was leased to Saudi Arabian Airlines and other operators. In April 2012, Kolavia acquired the aircraft with a new registration of EI-ETJ and transferred it to Kogalymavia in May.
The aircraft is powered by two IAE V2533 engines and is configured to carry 220 passengers in an economy configuration plus a crew seat. At the time of the accident, the plane was owned by Dublin-based AerCap and leased to Kolavia. The plane has collected 56,000 flight hours on nearly 21,000 flights.
On November 16, 2001, while operating for Middle East Airlines as F-OHMP, the aircraft suffered an attack when it landed in Cairo. It was repaired and returned to service with the airline in 2002.
Maps Metrojet Flight 9268
Crash
Flight 9268 leaves Sharm El Sheikh airport at 05:50 EST (03:50 UTC) for Pulkovo Airport in Saint Petersburg, Russia, with 217 passengers and seven crew members in it. The plane failed to make contact with Cyprus Air Traffic Control 23 minutes later. The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency confirmed the flight had disappeared from radar tracking, but there was initial confusion as to whether the plane had crashed.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sinai Branch Levant say that it dropped the plane. Wassim Nasr, a 24-member French expert on the jihad movement, said the ISIL group never claimed an attack they did not commit. Russian media said that the pilot reported a technical problem and had requested a landing at the nearest airport before the A321 was lost. This claim is disputed by other sources, including the Egyptian authorities and subsequent analysis of flight recorder data confirms that no distress request or assignment is granted. Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry issued a statement indicating the flight was at an altitude of 31,000 feet (9,400 m) when it disappeared from the radar screen after a steep drop of 5,000 feet (1,500 m) in one minute. Flightradar24 shows the plane ascending to 33,500 feet (10,200 m) at 404 kn (748 km/h, 465 mph) before suddenly descending to 28,375 feet (8,649 m) at 62 kn (115 km/h; 71 mph) about 50 km (31 mi) northeast of Nekhel, after which his position is no longer traced. A bomb exploded on the plane, causing uncontrolled decompression and a plane crashed in the air. All 224 passengers and crew were killed.
Reuters quoted an unidentified security official as saying the plane had been completely destroyed. Debris scattered over 20 square kilometers (8 square meters), with the front approximately 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the tail, indicating that the plane had broken up during the flight. The aerial imagery of the airplane debris broadcast in the RT indicates that the wings are still intact until the impact. The pattern of debris, combined with the initial interpretation of a sudden change of aircraft at altitude and airspeed, reinforces the notion that the tail of the aircraft flies apart during the flight and falls separately.
Response
The unnamed Egyptian authorities indicate that the first part of the ruins has been found. Fifty ambulances were sent to the crash site near Housna, 300 kilometers (190 million) from Sharm El Sheikh. An unnamed Egyptian official reported that the plane "split in two" and most of the bodies were found tied up in their seats. Initial reports indicate that the sound of trapped passengers can be heard in the fallen plane. At least 100 bodies were recovered, including at least five children.
Passenger and crew
Flight 9268 carries 217 passengers, 25 of which are children, plus seven crew members. The flight captain Valery Yurievich Nemov and first officer was Sergei Stanislavovich Trukhachev. According to the airline, captain Nemov has collected more than 12,000 hours of flight time, including 3,800 hours on this type of aircraft.
The Russian embassy confirmed that most of the passengers were Russian and the majority were women. There is also one Belarusian and four Ukrainian passengers in it. Most of the passengers are tourists who return from the Red Sea resort. The Association of Tour Operators of Russia released a passenger manifest of all allegedly on board. The majority of passengers are from northwestern Russia, including Saint Petersburg and surrounding Leningrad, Novgorod and Pskov oblasts. A large number of children became orphaned by the accident because many of the parents in flight left their children in Russia.
Investigation
Ayman al-Muqaddam, head of the central air traffic accident authorities in Egypt, was appointed to investigate the cause of the crash. In a statement on October 31, he indicated that the pilot had made contact with the civil aviation authorities and asked to land at a nearby airport. He suggested the plane may have tried an emergency landing at El Arish International Airport in northern Sinai. On the same day, Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamel said that air traffic control records do not show distress calls, or changes in route requests by pilots. The Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, said that the investigation into the crash would take months.
Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry sent three aircraft to the crash site. The Russian Investigation Committee also initiated a legal case against Kogalymavia under a law regulating "violations of flight rules and preparations." Kogalymavia employees were also questioned, along with the people from the Brisco tour agency who had chartered the flight. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry promised to work closely with Russian officials and investigators to find the cause of the crash. The plane has passed the technical inspection before take off. Researchers will also look at security camera footage. Immediately after the accident, the Russian regional transportation prosecutor determined that the fuel quality in the aircraft met the required standards.
Aviation accident investigation agencies BEA (France), BFU (Germany), and AAIU (Ireland) participated in the investigation as representatives for the state of design, manufacture and registration of aircraft respectively. The BEA sent two investigators, accompanied by six representatives from Airbus, to Egypt on 1 November. According to the BEA, they joined two investigators from the BFU and four investigators from the Inter-State Aviation Committee, their Russian counterpart, representing the state of the aircraft operator.
Both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder were recovered from the crash site on November 1. Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov and special investigation teams arrived in Cairo to assist Egyptian investigators in determining the cause of the crash. Flight data recorders are reported to be in good condition. On November 4, Investigators of the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation reported that the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was partially damaged and much work was required to extract data from it. CVR shows that everything is normal until a sudden catastrophic event. Explosions or other loud noises suddenly sounded very long before the recorder stopped recording.
Egypt's search and rescue team found 163 bodies on November 1. As the search area widened, the Egyptian team found the body of a child about 8 kilometers (5 mi) from the wreckage, signaling that the plane had broken in midair, confirmed by Russian investigator Viktor Sorochenko.
An unnamed official was quoted by Reuters as saying the tail section 9268 was separated from the main body of the plane and caught fire, which could indicate an explosion. According to a senior US defense official speaking on Nov. 2, the US infrared satellite detects hot flashes at times and places of disaster, and the US intelligence community believes that it could be an explosion on the plane, whether by tank or bomb fuel and satellite imagery as well missile attack. US National Intelligence Director James Clapper said there was "no direct evidence of terrorist involvement". Several UK news outlets reported that the ISIL bomb was the most likely explanation for the accident.
Within a week after the accident, serious consideration was given to the idea that the plane was deliberately torn down. The British government said that in the light of further British intelligence, the accident was "probably caused by an explosive device". British aviation experts travel to Egypt to assess airport security; The British government's Cobra emergency committee, headed by the Prime Minister, considers their findings. The BBC reports that the British government considers the incident may be caused by terrorism based on intercepted transmissions between Sinai-based militants. This transmission shows that the bomb is placed in the hold before takeoff. Although Britain has not ruled out technical errors, the BBC report is "increasingly unlikely". Paul Adams, BBC correspondent of world affairs, said that Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman left little doubt that the British government believed the plane was dropped by a bomb. Adams said that suspending flights to and from foreign countries and insisting on your own technical experts assessing security shows a lack of confidence in the country's own security measures. Security experts and investigators say the plane is unlikely to be attacked from the outside and Sinai militants are not believed to have missiles capable of attacking an aircraft at an altitude of 30,000 feet (9,100 m).
At the same time, flights began to cease from and to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, causing some 20,000 British tourists to be displaced.
European researchers have found that the cockpit voice recorder data is consistent with the explosion and the flight data recorder cuts out unexpectedly. On November 8, Reuters quoted an unnamed member of the Egyptian investigation team, speaking anonymously because of the investigative sensibility, which said he was "90% sure" that the plane was dropped by a bomb, based on a preliminary analysis of the last second. cockpit voice recordings. Lead researcher Ayman al-Muqaddam says that other causes, such as overheated lithium batteries, fuel explosions, or metal fatigue in structures, must still be sidelined definitively.
On November 17, 2015, head of the Russian security service Alexander Bortnikov announced that their investigation had concluded that "acts of terror" undermined Flight Metrojet 9268 after explosives traces were found in the wreckage. Spectrum analysis is used among other methods to examine the substance found. According to Russian officials, an assembled explosive device with a power equivalent to 1 kilogram TNT lowered the flight. Russia offers a US $ 50 million prize for more information. Reuters reported that, according to security sources, two employees of Egypt's Sharm El Sheikh airport had been arrested for interrogation of the accident on suspicion of placing bombs on the plane. The Egyptian authorities denied this.
On November 18, 2015, ISIL published photos of what was claimed to be a bomb in the online magazine Dabiq, claiming to show three IED components including a Schweppes soda that could contain explosive loads, military grade detonators and switches. In the same month Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu announced that Sinai branch of ISIL was responsible for the crash.
On December 14, 2015, the Egyptian committee investigating the accident issued a preliminary report. The committee leader said that so far it was found "there is no evidence that there is any act of terror or illegal intervention". Responding to statements by the investigative committee, Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that "our experts conclude this is a terrorist attack".
On January 29, 2016, Reuters reported, from an unnamed source, that a mechanic had been detained and suspected of planting a bomb, given by his cousin, who is a member of ISIS. Two policemen and a luggage officer allegedly helped the mechanic.
On February 24, 2016, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi acknowledged that terrorism caused the accident, saying, "Is terrorism over? No... Whoever dropped the plane, what did he want? Just to achieve tourism? To crush relationships to hit relations with Russia. "
Other hypotheses
Hypothesis of repair and maintenance
Airline officials have announced that they have ruled out mechanical failure, but investigators have still not made such a determination. Natalya Trukhacheva, ex-wife of co-pilot Sergei Trukhachev, said in an interview with NTV that her ex-husband had complained to their daughter about the technical state of the plane.
The aircraft involved in the accident suffered an attack when it landed in Cairo fourteen years earlier. Some have made comparisons with Japan Airlines Flight 123, which crashed into the mountain in 1985, seven years after the plane suffered an attack on landing. Flight 123 suffered terrible damage in the air while climbing to its cruising altitude. The Flight 123 collision is caused by a faulty repair of the tail section of the plane following the backseat, which causes the rear pressure seal of the plane to be vulnerable to metal fatigue and ultimately leads to explosive decompression. Reports of the Flight 9268 debris have suggested that "clear breaks" occur near the back of the plane's back pressure, possibly indicating a bulkhead failure.
On November 2, Metrojet spokesman Alexander Smirnov insisted that the plane was 100% worthy of flying and its crew "very experienced", showing the certificate the airline received in 2014, then added that the carcass incident in Cairo had been completely restored and its engine was checked on October 26, five days before the accident.
The missile hypothesis
In a report by the British newspaper The Guardian missile strike "is considered unlikely" but the report states that some airlines will avoid flying over the Sinai while the accident is under investigation. On November 2, Metrojet spokesman Alexander Smirnov ruled out technical error and pilot error as the cause of the crash and blamed "external forces". ISIL Sinai region claimed the incident in retaliation for a Russian air strike against militants in Syria, where IS controls the territory, along with nearby Iraq. The Sinai region is said to have no access to surface-to-air missiles capable of hitting high-altitude aircraft because MANPADS rarely reach half of the aircraft cruising range, but analysts can not exclude the possibility of bombs on airplanes.
Egyptian Army spokesman Mohamed Samir denied the claim and pointed out that an investigation was under way. Russia's Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov dismissed the claim as "fabricated" due to lack of evidence of Egyptian civil aviation, from security officials and from air traffic data. James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence of the United States, said on Nov. 2 that there was no evidence of terrorist involvement but he would not rule it out. On the same day, a source on the committee analyzing the flight recorder said he was confident that the plane was not attacked from the outside and that the pilot did not create distress signals before disappearing from the radar. He based his comments on the preliminary investigations of both flight recorders.
Disruption of air traffic
All flights due to leave Sharm El Sheikh for Britain are suspended as "precautions" to allow experts to assess security. Emirates, Lufthansa and Air France-KLM announced they will avoid overflying the Sinai peninsula until the cause of the accident has been determined. The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States has previously notified operators under its jurisdiction to operate above FL260 (26,000 feet [7,900 m]) while flying over Sinai. Luftfahrt-Bundesamt from Germany told the airline the same thing. Air Arabia, Flydubai and British Airways also stopped their flights in the Sinai Peninsula in response to the crash. The latter states that they plan to continue flights over the Sinai, although the alternate routes in question are not announced. EasyJet initially stated that they would not stop their flights to and from Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada, but would actively review them; passengers who choose not to fly the route will be re-booked on another flight or given a flight voucher.
On Nov. 4, the Office of Foreign Affairs and the British Commonwealth (FCO) changed their travel advice to advise all important air travel by air to Sharm El Sheikh. As a result, all flights to and from the resort were canceled from November 4th. On the same day, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) issues an order to all Irish air carriers not to operate to or from Sharm el-Sheikh or fly over the Sinai Peninsula until further notice.
The decision on Nov. 4 by British and Irish authorities for onshore flights to and from Sharm El Sheikh came within minutes of each other. Patrick McLoughlin - Secretary of State for British Transport - told Parliament that Ireland has investigators from the Airborne Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) in the field in Egypt who report back to the Irish government, and the British and Irish governments have close security cooperation.
On the morning of November 5, Air France-KLM announced that they would not allow the plane's luggage while flying out of Cairo that day; more than half of the booked passengers refused to fly. It is estimated there are 20,000 Britons in Sharm El Sheikh on November 5, almost half of them on vacation and stranded by flight cancellations. Flights to the UK are allowed again from 6 November, to allow people to travel back home, but with restrictions and improvements to security measures. Passengers are allowed to travel home only with handbags, with luggage held to be returned following a stricter screening process. British officials at the airport provide extra security and approved aircraft as safe for travel.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Nov. 6 that all Russian flights to and from Egypt were canceled. Most of the British airlines serving the resort are sending repatriation flights to the resort to bring abandoned British tourists back to the UK. On the afternoon of November 6, the Egyptian authorities placed restrictions on the number of flights due to the density at the terminal; as a result, only eight of the 29 planned repatriation flights can depart on the day with flights being forced to divert or return to the UK while in the air.
On Nov. 8 some 11,000 Russian tourists and around 5,300 British tourists have been flown back from the resort.
On Nov. 9, the British airline announced that all flights to the resort had been canceled until at least November 25. The British government and the head of Emirates Airlines stated that airport security throughout the Middle East could be significantly overhauled as a result of the bombing. On November 15, 16,000 British tourists have been flown back from the resort since the flight suspension.
Aftermath
In March 2016, Metrojet filed for bankruptcy as a result of the bombing of Flight 9268 and the security situation in Egypt, both resulting in a decrease in the number of passengers.
On April 12, 2018, flights between Russia and Egypt finally resumed. The flight, operated by Aeroflot and EgyptAir, currently operates only between Moscow and Cairo, but it is possible that chartered flights to the resort can resume by the end of 2018.
International reaction
Russian
On November 1, 2015, the Russian Government grounded all A321 aircraft flown by Kogalymavia. Russian news agency Interfax reported that Russia's transport regulator Rostransnadzor had asked Kogalymavia to stop flying its A321 aircraft until the cause of the accident was identified.
Maria Zakharova, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that the Russian Embassy attended the event. President Putin declared Nov. 1 as the day of national mourning in Russia.
Dmitry Kiselyov blamed the accident on allegations of a secret pact between America and ISIL.
Initially representatives of the Russian government claimed that "there is no evidence at all" for terrorist attacks and especially denied any connection between Russian accidents and intervention in Syria. On Nov. 17, Russia's security chief said the cause of the attack was an act of terror, and the Russian Government offered a $ 50 million reward for any information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators.
Egypt
Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail canceled his meeting after hearing news of the accident. A few hours after the accident, he was on his way to the crash site along with other ministers on a private jet, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
ireland
The Republic of Ireland, as the state registration of the aircraft, submitted an offer of assistance received by the Egyptian accident investigation authorities to the Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sports to send a team comprised of Operation/Inspector Pilot, Rules/Operations advisor of the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to assist in the investigation. The team flew by Irish military aircraft on 2 November.
Israel
Israel, which borders the Sinai peninsula, offers to help Russia and Egypt with oversight if needed.
Ukraine
In April 2018, Ukraine's foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin visited Cairo to discuss the bombing, and its impact. Since the travel ban was lifted at the beginning of the same year, Ukraine International Airlines launched a direct flight between Kiev and Cairo on April 9, although there were claims that the airline was just resuming flights.
United Kingdom
On November 4, the British intelligence agency was involved in the investigation. The British government sent an extra consular staff and half a dozen military planners to Egypt. The Egyptian President al-Sisi met then British Prime Minister Cameron in London. At a joint press conference with Cameron, the Sides President said Egypt would work together in stepping up security measures at Sharm El Sheikh airport. Cameron and Russian President Putin also discussed the crash investigation. On Nov. 5, the government sent diplomatic staff including British embassy staff and FCO Rapid Deployment Teams to Sharm El Sheikh airport to help British residents' homes.
Less than a week after the accident, Britain banned flights to Sharm El-Sheikh airport and this restriction is still in force in early October 2017. On 5 November 2017, the British government also advised "all but important" travel to South Sinai "with the exception of the inside perimeter of the perimeter of Sharm el Sheikh, which includes the airports and regions of Sharm el Maya, Hadaba, Naama Bay, Sharks Bay and Nabq ". As aviation from other countries continues, the British government reminds its citizens of ongoing recommendations against all but important travel by air to or from Sharm el Sheikh.
United States
US President Barack Obama said on Nov. 5 that the US government took the incident "very seriously", knowing there was a possibility that there was a bomb on the plane.
Airbus
Airbus announced that it would release more information when it became available. They also released a statement on their website confirming MSN and aircraft engine configuration.
Charlie Hebdo
On 6 November the French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo published a cartoon referring to the tragedy, one with a plane crash falling on the ISIL fighter with the caption: "The Russian air force intensified the bombing." The cartoon caused massive offenses in Russia and a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin called the artwork a "blasphemy", and members of the State Duma called for the magazine to be banned as an extremist literature and demanded an apology from the French government.
On November 12 the magazine published another cartoon, on its cover, equating the collision with a sex act, with the text ": Crash in the Sinai: finally a sex tape." The cartoon again causes a major offense in Russia. In response, the Russian Ministry of Defense published cartoons on Zvezda's television channel and website, one of which showed the editor of the magazine GÃÆ' Â © rard Biard laughing at the magazine and saying: "Laughter prolongs life", with the figure of the death angel at his home. side comment: "Not in your case, GÃÆ' Â © rard. Not in your case."
Dramatization
Flight 929 Flight Airjet is featured in "Terror Over Egypt", (Season 17, Episode 8) on the Canadian TV series Mayday .
See also
- Accidents and incidents involving the Airbus A320 family
- List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
- Avianca Flight 203
- Iraq Airlines Flight 163
- Flight Pan Am 103
- Air India Flight 182
Note
References
External links
- Accident note
- ?????????? ?? ????? 7? -9268 - Archive copy of Metrojet crisis page on Flight 9268 (in Russian)
- ? - 321 EI-ETJ 31.10.2015Ã, - Aviation Aviation Committee (in Russian)
- Information from Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry (in Arabic) / (in English)
- CrisisÃ, - Airbus page about incidents
- Accidents in the Sinai Peninsula (Egypt) Ã, - BEA
- Flight info and flight history - Flightradar24
- Passenger list (in Russian)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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