CRI听力:Russia Promises Thorough Investigation into Plane Crash

The Kogalymavia airline flight came down just 23 minutes after taking off from Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh for the Russian city of St. Petersburg.

It's believed the plane had 224 people on board, 7 of whom were crew members. The Russian embassy is still to confirm the exact figures although 214 are believed to be Russian with three Ukrainian nationals, most were tourists.

The Egyptian Prime Minister said on Saturday there was "almost nil" chance of any survivors.

At the same time, Sherif Ismail also dismissed an IS claim that the plane was shot down by one of its affiliates operating in Sinai province.

"What will determine what happened is the analysis of the data in the black box and that of experts. However, up until this point, there are no indications that anything out of the ordinary happened on this aircraft. All we can say is that it happened due to technical problems and the team of experts are the ones who will be able to prove or deny this."

Russia's Transport Minister is also on record saying that the claim "can't be considered accurate".

According to the Egyptian civilian aviation ministry, the plane was at an altitude of 9,450 metres when it disappeared from radar.

Security experts believe such an altitude would be beyond the range of shoulder-launched missiles known to be possessed by militants in Sinai.

The wreckage was found in Hassana, a mountainous area 35 kilometres south of Arish city.

The plane's two black box recorders have also been found.

Initial media reports suggested that the charter flight may crash due to technical problems.

However Egypt's Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal said according to their records, there were no reports of any faults on the plane at any stage.

"If the pilot doesn't report any faults on the plane, all that will be carried out is routine maintenance checks on the plane before take-off. There were no reports that the airplane had faults, the checks done before take-off did not reveal anything. Up until the crash happened, we were never informed of any faults in the plane, nor did we receive any SOS calls."

An investigation commission was established under the order of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, and includes Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, who had already headed to Egypt.

Meanwhile, a criminal case was opened into the incident by the Investigative Committee to check on the compliance of laws on flight operating safety.

Aircraft manufacturer Airbus said in an online statement that the aircraft involved in the accident was produced in 1997 and operated by the Russia Metrojet Airline since 2012.

President Putin has declared today a national day of mourning because of the crash.

Egyptian authorities are currently preparing to receive the families of the victims.

As the cause of the incident is still being investigated, two major airlines, Lufthansa and Air France-KLM have decided to review their routes over the Sinai province.