Russian Federal Security Service spokesperson Sergei Ignatchenko said on Wednesday that studies of the wreckage of the two planes that crashed on Tuesday have shown no terrorist act was carried out aboard the planes.
The two planes crashed nearly simultaneously, killing a total of 89 people.
However, the security service’s press service said that explosives specialists were still working at the scene and that terrorism was still being considered a possible cause of the crashes. It said no evidence of terrorism had yet been found.
Ignatchenko said investigators were still questioning airport, airline and security employees from the airport where the planes originated. He did not say how authorities had reached the conclusion.
Speaking on state-run First Channel television, Ignatchenko repeated that authorities believe the most likely cause of the crash was a violation of air transport rules. He said investigators were checking the content of the fuel used in the planes and their technical condition.
Earlier, Ignatchenko said officials were still considering terrorism as a possible cause, although a preliminary examination of the wreckage offered no evidence of a terrorist act. It was unclear whether Ignatchenko was ruling out terrorism altogether.
Russian news agencies reported that the flight data recorders from the two planes had been found and taken to Moscow. The FSB press service said their content could yield key clues to the cause of the crashes.
A Sibir airlines Tu-154 jet carrying 46 people took off from Moscow’s newly redeveloped Domodedovo airport at 9.35pm local time on Tuesday and the other plane, a Tu-134 carrying 43 people, left 40 minutes later, state-run Rossiya television reported.
The two planes disappeared from radar screens almost simultaneously late on Tuesday night. The wreckage of both was later found, with no survivors, authorities said.
The Tu-134 was headed to the southern city of Volgograd and the other plane to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, where President Vladimir Putin was vacationing.
Sibir said that it was notified its jet had activated a hijack or seizure signal shortly before disappearing from radar screens.
Officials said there were no indications of trouble with the other plane, but witnesses on the ground reported hearing a series of explosions.
Interfax quoted an unnamed Russian aviation security expert as saying the fact that the two planes disappeared around the same time raised suspicions of terrorism, and Sibir said it was not ruling out the possibility. — Sapa-AP
Twin air disasters raise security fears