downplaying it right now. this despite metrojet doesn t believe a mechanical issue could cause the plane to go down. we are looking at the heat signature that was detected over the sinai peninsula. that could have been a number of things. a number of theories are brought up now. potential missile which is the most unlikely as isis is not known to possess the abilities to have that missile to hit a plane traveling over 30,000 feet. you have a potential for a bomb exploding. officials on the ground investigating have not detected any residue that leads to that. there is still a lot more wreckage to go through. there is an engine that could have exploded due to a mechanical issue or it could have been the plane hitting the ground which when you look at the video of the wreckage, you do see the scarred parts of the plane. this does open a lot more theories, which investigators are going to go through.
significant, but doesn t prove or disproved the terrorist attack. for the latest on the investigation, let s bring in cnn s ian lee in cairo. ian, a lot of contradictory information from the russian government and egyptian government and the jetliner company itself. reporter: that is right. we are going by the facts we are hearing. the latest is the heat flash. the egyptian have yet to comment on it. russians have yet to confirm or denounce the claim. this is coming from the u.s. official that the satellite picked up a heat flash. they do not know if it happened in the air or on the ground which leads to a few scenarios. it could have been a missile. although this is the least likely as militants in the sinai do not possess that type of weaponry that could hit a plane
breaking news we are following in the cnn news room. a russian passenger plane traveling from egypt to russia crashed in the central sinai. the statement also said the prime minister is currently meeting with ministers and security officials regarding this crash. a plane traveling from egypt to russia crashed in the central sinai. we will, of course, continue to gather details on this and bring the latest as we learn more here on cnn. now to the campaign trail in the u.s. presidential race. democratic candidate, hillary clinton, visit a university in atlanta, georgia.
when she almost fainted. when all of the numbers came up and went back to work, checked the numbers with a fellow employees and was immediately told to go home. what did she do then? she went home, woke up her partner of 36 years, he says, he was dreaming of having won the lottery that night. i think he also complained about the fact he woke her up, too. they have not been complaining since. when they picked up the check today, they said that they have 11 grandchildren and it is their plans to look after their family, pay off all of their debts, the mortgage, the car payments and perhaps do some traveling. frances, back to you. all right. kevin tibbles reporting. she will love those millions and sleeping in. right now, breaking news from new mexico. united airlines flight diverted to albuquerque after the co-pilot fell unconscious. that plane traveling from houston to san francisco and a spokesman tells msnbc the pilot
not likely if not a certificatitude that there were americans on board. so now we have not just ukraine ian officials but the u.s. government saying this plane was shot down. the question who did it is up for debate. the ukrainian say it was a buk, be surface-to-air missile system. is that possible? tom foreman, how does this buk missile system work? could it hit a plane traveling 30,000 feet in the air, 500 miles an hour? let s bring in the map and talk about the lay of the land here. that s part of the answer to your question. the plane took off from amsterdam and headed to cue oo al lal lumpur. it passes right over the ukraine space. all indications were this plane was about 32,000 feet in the air. is that in the range of some surface-to-air missiles? yes, it absolutely is.