Russian plane broke apart 'in the air'

Moscow, Nov 1: The Russian Airbus that crashed in Egypt broke apart "in the air," a senior official with Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee said on Sunday. "The disintegration happened in the air and the fragments are strewn over a large area," committee chief Viktor Sorochenko was quoted as saying by RIA-Novosti news agency in Cairo, where he is part of an intertiol panel of experts from Russia, Egypt, France and Ireland. An Egyptian ground service official who carried out a pre-flight inspection of the Russian passenger plane that crashed in the Sii Peninsula said on Sunday that the Airbus A321-200 appeared to be in good condition. The aviation said it was too early to talk about conclusions from the crash. Egyptian and Russian officials have expressed scepticism about a claim by an Islamic State group branch in Egypt that it downed the plane.