Russian plane wreckage to be moved to Cairo

The wreckage of the Russian plane which crashed in Egypt's Sinai will be moved to the capital Cairo, the head of the Egypt-led investigation committee told reporters in a news conference on Saturday.

"The wreckage will be recovered to a safe and secure place in Cairo for further examination of each part," committee chief Ayman al-Mokadem said, Xinhua reported, adding that the 47-member investigation team, besides several other consultants, are still in the process of information gathering.

The investigation panel said in the statement that the VCR in the black box was successfully downloaded, and during the first listening "a noise was heard in the last second," which requires spectral analysis that will be carried out by specialized labs.

The passenger Russian plane crashed late October in Egypt's North Sinai a while after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport, which killed all 224 people on board.

Recent Western media reports citing intelligence sources suggested the Russian plane crashed due to a planted terrorist bomb.

As a result, Russia, Britain and some other European countries suspended their flights to Egypt.

"The committee was not provided with any information or evidence in this regard," said the panel chief, adding "the committee urges the sources of such reports to provide it with all information that could help us to undertake our mission."

The committee consists of 49 members, 29 from Egypt, seven from Russia, six from France and two from Germany besides other airline consultants.