Egypt still insists no evidence Russian plane was attacked
CAIRO -- Egypt's chief investigator says a preliminary investigation into the October crash of a Russian passenger plane in Sinai has found no indication yet of any "unlawful interference or terrorist action."
A statement released Monday by the chief investigator, Ayman el-Muqadam, says that so far the investigation committee did not "receive any evidence" that indicates there was foul play in the downing of the plane.
The vaguely worded statement implied this is not the final conclusion of the investigators. El-Muqadam's statement also says the committee is "continuing its work."
The Oct. 31 crash killed all 224 people onboard.
Russia has said an explosive device had been placed onboard the Airbus 321-200 and the Sinai branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group has claimed responsibility, posting a photo online of the bomb purported used to down the plane.
U.S. officials have given no indications that they doubt the Russian's assessment, nor the claim by ISIS.
A source at Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry told CBS News' Alex Ortiz that all of the members of the investigation -- including the international members -- signed off on the preliminary report and will have to sign off on the final report, too.
But Ortiz says the Egyptians appear to be pushing the investigation in a certain direction, and Cairo has its reasons for being reluctant to accept that terrorism was the cause of the crash.
Not only have the claims that ISIS attacked the plane been devastating to the country's already-ailing tourism industry, Ortiz says it's also a matter of national pride.
The Egyptians and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board reached opposite conclusions in their investigations into the downing of EgyptAir Flight 990 in 1999, with Egypt denying pilot error was the cause of that crash.
With the Egyptians tightly controlling access to the crash site, debris, and black boxes, much of the information pointing to a bomb on the Metrojet airliner has been leaked by members of the investigation team from other countries, including France and Russia.