Egypt’s civil aviation ministry said there were no facts proving that the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Saturday broke up in mid-air.

The spokesman for the ministry, Mohamed Rahmi, has told Reuters that no distress call had been received before the crash.

“No communication from the pilot was recorded at the navigation centres requesting anything,” he told Reuters.

The Egyptian government said the black boxes were being examined by Egyptian and Russian experts along with German and French specialists from Airbus and from Ireland where the aircraft was registered.