(MENAFN- Arab News) CAIRO: Investigators were set Tuesday to examine the black boxes from the Russian airliner that crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula as President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi warned the probe would take time.
El-Sisi described a claim by the Egyptian branch of the Daesh group to have downed the jet that crashed on Saturday killing all 224 people on board as 'propaganda.'
Sources close to the investigation said that examination of the two black box flight recorders would start on Tuesday as the search for the aircraft's wreckage and bodies continued. The probe could last several weeks or months if the recordings in the black boxes are damaged sources said. Russia's government commission overseeing the investigation is also due to meet Tuesday.
The Saint Petersburg-bound Airbus A321-200 operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia crashed 23 minutes after taking off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Most of the passengers were Russian tourists. Kogalymavia said the plane crashed due to 'external action' and that there was no technical fault or human error. It insisted the aircraft was in an 'excellent technical condition.'
Within hours of the crash the Egyptian affiliate of Daesh which has a stronghold in the northern Sinai claimed it had downed the jet in retaliation for Russian air strikes targeting its militants in Syria.
'When there is propaganda that it crashed because of ISIS (Daesh) this is one way to damage the stability and security of Egypt and the image of Egypt' El-Sisi told the BBC.
'The plane was at 35000 feet altitude. Believe me the situation in Sinai especially in this limited area is under our full control.'
Sisi warned the probe could take years as in the case of Pan-Am flight 103 from London to New York that was brought down by a bomb and crashed into the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988.
'It takes time to clarify the incidents. You had the Pan-American that crashed over Europe. It took years before you reached the truth about the real reasons why it crashed' Sisi said in an interview with the BBC.
On Monday US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said it was 'unlikely' that Daesh was involved in the Kogalymavia plane crash but did not rule out the possibility.
Alexander Neradko head of Russia's aviation authority criticized the airline's comments ruling out technical fault or human error saying they were 'premature and not based on any real facts.'