‘Explosive device may have downed jet’

The Russian passenger plane which crashed in Egypt on Saturday “may well have been brought down by an explosive device”, the British Government has said.

The announcement came as a doctor studying the bodies of the dead said most of the burns were ante-mortem, suffered before death, indicating that there must have been enormous flames inside the cabin as the plane broke up.

Many of the bodies were charred to the extent that DNA testing would be required to help identify the victims.