国际英语新闻:US Satellite Detects Flash At Time of Russian Plane Disaster

A U.S. military satellite detected a heat flash at the time a Russian jetliner crashed over the Sinai Peninsula last weekend, authorities said Tuesday, but the cause of the accident remains a mystery.

Authorities have ruled out the possibility that a missile hit the aircraft before it broke into pieces and plunged 9,400 meters to the Sinai desert, killing all 224 people aboard. Neither a missile launch nor engine burn has been detected.

But experts told U.S. media outlets that the heat flash could point to a catastrophic event aboard the aircraft, such as an exploding bomb, the explosion of an aircraft engine, or a fire aboard the Metrojet A-321, or even just the aircraft parts hitting the ground.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Tuesday dismissed as "propaganda" claims by Islamic State insurgents they brought down a Russian jetliner that crashed in the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people aboard.

"When there is propaganda that it crashed because of ISIS, this is one way to damage the stability and security of Egypt and the image of Egypt," Sissi told the BBC, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

"Believe me, the situation in Sinai, especially in this limited area, is under our full control," he said.

Meanwhile, investigators in Egypt began their examination of the flight recorders recovered from the wreckage of the Metrojet A-321 and Russian families began the sad process of identifying 140 bodies that were transported home to St. Petersburg.

A Russian emergency official said 10 of the crash victims had been identified. In addition, more than 100 parts of bodies, personal belongings and documents have been recovered the desert crash site. 

The plane went down Saturday over the Sinai about 20 minutes after takeoff from the airport at the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on a flight to St. Petersburg. Three Ukrainians and a Belarussian were among the fatalities.

'Minor damage'

Russian transportation officials say the cockpit voice and flight data recorders recovered from the jetliner sustained only "minor" damage.

Cairo said Egyptian and Russian investigators are examining the so-called black boxes.

German and French specialists from Airbus, the plane's manufacturer, and from Ireland, where the plane was registered, are also looking at the flight recorders for clues to the cause of the accident.