and we re taking that very seriously. taking it very seriously. our senior international correspondent ben wedeman is following developments with us live in cairo, egypt at this hour. ben, good to have you with us. you just heard the comment played from the u.s. president suggesting that a bomb might have been on board. our investigators in cairo giving any credence to this possibility at this point? well, egyptian officials, george, haven t categorically ruled out the possibility. there was a bomb on board this airport. but at the same time, they say until now they have not found any evidence pointing in that direction. repeatedly, we ve heard egyptian officials say we mustn t get ahead of ourselves, that we should be waiting for the official results of this egyptian-led investigation. but they say it may be months before that investigation comes out with any results.
now be in their crosshairs. ian lee, cnn, sharm el sheikh, egypt. and russian state media reporting that another plane with victims remains is heading to st. petersburg from cairo. the aircraft is also carrying personal effects and documents. meanwhile funerals for the victims have started. the first was nia luchenko. she and 14 others who died in the crash were from the same region. services were also held for alexei alexa yev. he was 31 and won the trip as a bonus from his job. more funerals are expected in the coming days and weeks. you re watching cnn newsroom. still ahead this hour, atale of two ben carsons. this soft-spoken presidential candidate makes claims of a violent past, but his childhood friends tell cnn a very different story. also ahead, who detectives are investigating now in the
they didn t receive any s.o.s. they checked out the plane. everything seemed to be working from their initial inspection or the routine inspection. they re hoping those black boxes which were brought to cairo will hold the answers to those questions. they have a team from russia, they have airbus, egyptian aviation officials going to be poring over the information to piece together the final moments leading up to it and then to the crash as well. but there are still bodies out there. it is still a wide search area, about 8 kilometers. 5 miles that officials were combing overlooking for any clues, any evidence, as well as any bodies. george? ian, when these planes crash, when we ve covered them before, it seems that it depends upon which country is involved, which countries are involved to determine how quickly the investigation happens. given now that we have russia and egypt working together
cairo. let s bring in richard quest. richard, a lot of these questions will be answered upon discovery and analysis of those black boxes. as you have been investigating, the history of this airline and this aircraft over the last several hours, what have you learned? well, the airline metro jet was rebranded, a rebranded air line of kogalymavia. which is a russian airline. the airline itself has only had two previous incidents. they seem to be fairly minor. however, the aircraft itself, this particular 8321, was involved in a tail strike in 2001 when it was owned or being released by a previous character. apparently shall the damage was substantial. the plane was flying beirut to cairo. as it came into landing, cairo, the tail struck the runway and
the families and all concerned. richard quest, live from london and ian lee live from cairo. ian, what are you hearing about recovery efforts this morning? reporter: victor, we are hearing right now from the prime minister s office. we heard earlier that earn on board from the russians, saying everybody on board had been killed in this accident. now, from the egyptian prime minister s office saying 15 bodies have been recovered from the scene of the accident. rescue crews on ground sifting through the wreckage, trying to find other bodies. also, trying to find those black boxes to really figure out what exactly happened here. this plane taking off early morning hours and about 20 minutes into the flight, that s when it disappeared from radar, crashing into the central, northern central part of the sinai peninsula. this is a very mountainous