Black box info shows Russia plane wasn't hit by outside object

Contradicting earlier reports — which lent credence to the theory that a Russian flight may have been downed by terrorists over the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday — actual information from the black box of Airbus A321 showed that the plane was not struck from the outside before it crashed, Reuters reports.

Earlier Monday, a top Russian airline official said that the plane was downed by “an external impact,” ruling out the possibility of technical fault of pilot error.

Officials are still examining the information from the black box.

Two hundred and twenty-four passengers and crew were killed in the crash, which was claimed by the Islamic State group’s Sinai affiliate.

— AFP contributed