Russian officials deny ISIS brought down passenger plane in Egypt

UPDATE: Search teams have recovered the black boxes from the Russian Metrojet passenger plane that crashed Saturday over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. They are in good condition, and investigators hope they will shed some light on what happened to the plane, which crashed with 224 people onboard.

On Sunday, the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the crash, saying its fighters brought down the plane in retaliation for Russia's involvement in the Syrian conflict. Russian officials dismissed that claim.

But Metrojet's deputy general director said the company already had ruled out any technical problems with the plane. He claimed some kind of external impact caused the crash. Investigators have said it appears the plane broke apart in the air before coming down in pieces in the desert. Experts say a bomb could cause that kind of damage, as could severe weather or a midair collision. Other unusual events, like an on-board fire or corrosion, could also cause massive structural failure.

During a news conference Sunday, a Metrojet executive denied reports that the crew contacted air traffic control about technical problems before the crash, as an Egyptian official had claimed. The crew issued no distress calls before the crash, the company said.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (9:30 a.m. Oct. 31): A Russian passenger plane with 224 people onboard crashed today after taking off from a popular Egyptian resort town. It came down in a remote mountainous region of the Sinai Peninsula. Egyptian search and rescue teams found no survivors at the site.

The plane, an as-yet undetermined Airbus model operated by Metrojet, took off from Sharm el-Sheikh shortly after 6 a.m., headed for St. Petersburg. The resort is popular with Russian tourists, with about 3 million visiting the area each year. All the crash victims are Russian.

Not long after takeoff, air traffic controllers lost contact with the pilot.

The crash has raised fears of another terrorist takedown. Militants in the area are reported to have acquired Russian-made, shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft missiles, but those should only be able to reach low-flying aircraft. The Russian plane was cruising at an altitude of 36,000 feet when it disappeared from radar.

Ayman al-Muqadem, an official with the Egyptian Aviation Incidents Committee, told local reporters the pilot radioed before the crash to say the plane was experiencing technical difficulties and he intended to try to land at the nearest airport. The crash site is near the el-Arish airport.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.