THE Russian airliner which crashed in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, killing all 224 people on board, broke up in mid-air, an official confirmed yesterday.

Victor Sorochenko, the head of Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee, said it was too early to conclude what caused the crash on Saturday. The passenger plane was returning holidaymakers from the Sharm el-Sheikh resort to St Petersburg.

So far 163 bodies have been found. The victims were all Russians except for four Ukrainians and one Belorussian.

Transport safety watchdog Rostransnadzor said that Metrojet needed to analyse the situation thoroughly and weigh all risks before a decision is made today on whether to allow the airline to resume flights.

Photos from the site, 44 miles south of the city of el-Arish, have shown heaps of smouldering debris dotting the barren terrain, including the plane’s badly damaged sky blue tail.

Two French air accident investigators, accompanied by six technical advisers from

Airbus, flew to Egypt yesterday to join the investigation into the crash.

France’s BEA accident investigation agency is involved because the Airbus A321-200 jet was designed in France.

A BEA official said that the team would be joined by two investigators from its German counterpart BFU, because the plane was manufactured in Germany, and four investigators from its Russian counterpart MAK, because the plane was operated by a Russian company.

Rostransnadzor spokeswoman Zhanna Terekhova confirmed that Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov and Alexander Neradko, the head of the state civil aviation agency, would also be shown the plane’s data and cockpit voice recorders.

A Russian TV channel carried a news item on Saturday quoting the wife of the plane’s co-pilot as saying that her husband had complained about its condition.

An Egyptian official had previously said that, before the plane lost contact with air traffic controllers, the pilot had radioed to say that the aircraft was experiencing technical problems and that he intended to try to land at the nearest airport.

Dubai-based Emirates, the Middle East’s biggest carrier, announced its suspension yesterday of all flights over Sinai until more is learned about what caused the crash.

Hundreds of people brought flowers and photographs to St Petersburg airport yesterday in tribute to the victims.