The Russian passenger jet that crashed in Egypt killing all 224 people on board came down due to "external" factors, the airline said on Monday, as relatives began identifying their loved ones in Saint Petersburg.
Senior Kogalymavia executive Alexander Smirnov said that "no technical failures" could account for why the Airbus 321 would have broken up in mid-air, as investigators have said happened.
"The only explanation is some kind of external action," Smirnov told a news conference in Moscow, without elaborating, and adding that the doomed jet was in "excellent technical condition".
Meanwhile, a source in the committee analysing the flight recorders said the plane wasn't struck from the outside and the pilot did not make a distress call before it disappeared from radar, Reuters reported.
