New revelations have emerged on the final moments of the ill fated Russian aircraft that crashed in Egypt.
The scene of the crash
Airline bosses have revealed that the doomed Russian passenger jet lurched up and down before plunging 31,000 feet after being blown apart by an ‘external impact’, Daily Mail reports.
They also claim that travellers still strapped in their seats were sucked from the stricken Airbus A321 through a hole at the back of the jet when the tail blew off 23 minutes after leaving the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh.
The plane twice abruptly climbed nearly 3,000 feet in three seconds before falling 3,000 feet moments later in the final minutes before disappearing from radar, crashing in the Sinai peninsula with the loss of all 224 passengers and crew.
The news comes as US officials claim an American infra-red satellite detected a heat flash on the route the aircraft was taking seconds before the plane fell from the sky, suggesting there was some sort of explosion on board.
The data does not show the heat flash travelling at any time, as would be the case had a ground-to-air missile been launched in the plane's direction.
Instead, the satellite evidence illustrates that there was just a single burst of ferocious heat on the jet's path.
That has now opened up the possibility that a bomb on board, or an explosion in a fuel tank or engine as the result of a mechanical failure, caused the plane to come down.
A US official stressed that the infra-red data meant any speculation that a missile had been launched at the jet was simply 'off the table'.
As the first coffins of the victims – who included 17 children – were taken home to Russia on Monday, David Cameron said security officials were ‘looking very carefully’ at whether there was any safety risk to British holidaymakers travelling to the Red Sea.
Bosses at carrier Metrojet ruled out a technical fault or pilot error, indicating that a bomb or missile strike brought down the jet. Alexander Smirnov, the airline’s deputy general director, said: ‘The only possible explanation could be an external impact on the airplane.’