AF Air FranceKLM

The Russian passenger jet that crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula with 224 people on board broke apart in flight and debris from the tail section was found separate from the rest of the fuselage, suggesting that section may have split off in the air, according people familiar with the investigation.

Russian authorities suggested the cause of Saturday's crash was likely a mechanical failure, though it was too early to draw a firm conclusion. The midair breakup left debris scattered over approximately 20 square kilometers, the head of the Russian-led Interstate Aviation Committee, Viktor Sorochenko, said Sunday.

The plane involved had suffered substantial damage in 2001 when the tail struck the runway on landing in Cairo, according to the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network. That event has captured the attention of safety experts and investigators given that the tail section debris was located apart from the rest of the plane, according to two people knowledgeable about early steps of the investigation.

After climbing gradually to more than 33,000 feet, the jet dropped some 6,000 feet in about 22 seconds, according to preliminary radar data posted Saturday by a commercial website. In roughly 60 seconds, the data shows the plane's speed dropping to about 100 miles per hour, slower than the forward speed needed to continue safe flight. According to the data, which hasn't been confirmed by investigators, the plane had been cruising at roughly 460 miles per hour.

Both of the plane's black boxes, which record flight data, were recovered on Saturday and will be analyzed starting Sunday, said Mohamed Rahma, a spokesman for Egypt's civil aviation ministry.

"It's too early to speak of conclusions," Mr. Sorochenko told journalists in Cairo after inspecting the crash site, according to Russian state news agencies. "The breakup happened in the air."

The Airbus A321, operated by Russian carrier Kogalymavia, was flying to St. Petersburg, Russia, from the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh, a popular destination for Russian tourists.

The Egyptian affiliate of Islamic State, which is known as Sinai Province and is active in the restive peninsula, claimed responsibility for downing the plane and said it was in response to Russia's intervention in the Syrian war on the side of the regime. Syria's Shiite-linked regime, which is backed by Iran, is fighting the Sunni extremists of Islamic State among other foes.

Several airlines suspended flights over Sinai until more is known about the cause of the crash. United Arab Emirates budget carriers flydubai and Air Arabia said Sunday they were rerouting flights after Air France-KLM, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Emirates Airline said they were avoiding the Sinai region.

Islamic State and its affiliates have frequently made exaggerated claims, and Russian officials said they doubted whether the group has the capabilities to carry out such an attack. U.S. and European air safety officials, who had previously warned airliners about the threat of antiaircraft weapons in the region, believe flying above 26,000 feet is safe.

The Russian plane was above 30,000 feet when it appears to have broken up.

Conflicting reports about the extent of the debris field—and how far some tail sections actually landed from other portions of the fuselage—made many safety experts cautious about drawing firm conclusions on Sunday. But the relatively large size of some pieces of wreckage appeared to buttress the notion that the plane hit the ground at a relatively slow forward speed.

If wreckage is dispersed over 20 square kilometers or so, that strongly suggests an in-flight breakup, according to industry consultant John Cox, a former airline captain and senior crash investigator for the county's largest pilots union.

"It's very hard to believe the airplane would have come apart without some major structural or maintenance problem," he said Sunday.

An Egyptian team was searching for evidence and victims. Of the 224 people believed to have died in the crash, 163 bodies have been recovered so far.

"We are coordinating with the Russians to secure their transportation back home," said Mr. Rahma, the Egyptian civil aviation ministry spokesman.

A Russian team has begun working with the Egyptian government's investigative committee. Officials from Russia's emergency, civil-aviation and transport ministries, accompanied by experts from the country's civil-aviation ministry, arrived in Cairo late on Saturday.

"Investigations are under way and the government committee is currently at the crash scene," said Mr. Rahma,

The plane was built in 1997 making it one of the oldest A321s in service. It had logged almost 21,000 flights and 56,000 flight hours, Airbus said Saturday. In 2003, it was sold to Onur Air and flown by the Turkish carrier as well as leased, at times, to Saudi Arabian Airlines and Syria's Cham Wings, before being sold to Kogalymavia, which operates as Metrojet.

The aircraft had undergone all the required maintenance checks, Kogalymavia has said.

Still, when an accident or incident prompts significant structural or bulkhead repairs to a jetliner, the carrier typically consults the manufacturer and often wants it to sign off on how the work is slated to be done.

It isn't clear what occurred when the A321 was repaired years ago after the 2001 tail strike, or whether the work involved bulkhead repairs.

But safety experts have been aware of the hazards of incorrectly repaired bulkheads for more than a decade. In 2002, a China Airlines jumbo jet en route to Hong Kong from Taiwan broke apart shortly after takeoff, killing all 225 people aboard.

Investigators determined the in-flight rupture was caused by improper bulkhead repairs many years earlier.

Even before detailed downloads of the recorders are completed to create a precise accident timeline, the debris may provide important clues. The pattern and type of metal fractures, according to safety experts, frequently can indicate how the plane came apart. In previous crash probes, such analysis helped point to everything from fuel-tank explosions to missile strikes.

This time, according to these experts, most pieces of the plane are relatively easy to access and therefore may help investigators quickly eliminate theories that don't fit the physical evidence.

Egypt has in recent years built up its technical capacity to handle air-crash probes, including the ability to extract information from cockpit voice and flight-data recorders quickly, according to an aviation-safety expert familiar with the country's efforts.

Authorities could have useful information available in a few days or even hours once they start extracting data from the black boxes.

Egypt is leading the probe, as per international rules, and will be assisted by experts from plane maker Airbus Group SE as well as the French and German air-crash investigation offices.

Moscow sent aircraft with first responders and forensic investigators to Egypt on Saturday to assist in the recovery.

The Russian Embassy in Cairo said an additional two aircraft from Russia's emergency situations ministry arrived in Egypt on Sunday.

A team of more than 100 Russian first-responders were on the ground by Sunday.

Egypt's top prosecutor, Nabil Sadeq, has ordered restricted access to the crash site.

Journalists haven't been allowed to visit the scene, as part of an overall restriction in Sinai because of continuing military operations against militants in the northern part of the peninsula.

Nathan Hodge and James Marson contributed to this article.

Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 01, 2015 20:45 ET (01:45 GMT)

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