U.S. official says satellite shows heat flash when Russian Metrojet plane crashed in Sinai

Soldiers stand over luggage from the Metrojet plane that crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
(Image credit: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images)

A senior U.S. defense official says an American infrared satellite detected a heat flash at the same time and in the same area over Egypt's Sinai peninsula where a Russian plane crashed Saturday, killing all 224 people on board.

The unidentified official told NBC News that U.S. intelligence analysts believe it could have been an explosion on the aircraft, either a fuel tank or bomb. A local Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for shooting down the Metrojet Airbus A321, but the official said the infrared satellite would have been able to track the heat trail of a surface-to-air missile. "The speculation that this plane was brought down by a missile is off the table," the official told NBC News.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.