Egypt’s government placed itself directly at odds with Russian and Western allies on Monday, announcing that Egyptian investigators had found no evidence that the Russian airliner crash in Sinai on Oct. 31 was caused by terrorism.
The government’s chief investigator, Ayman al-Muqaddam, said he had not received “any evidence of unlawful interference or terrorist activity” in connection with the crash, which occurred when a jetliner packed with Russian vacationers broke up in midair 23 minutes after takeoff from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board.
Although the statement offered ample detail about the investigation, such as the number of hours that investigators spent photographing the wreckage, and the number of helicopter trips they took to the remote site, it offered little explanation about the actual cause of the crash.