Special to WorldTribune.com

Although other airlines have canceled flights to the region, a claim by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) that its fighters shot down Russian passenger jet over the Sinai Peninsula has been discredited.

The ISIL video shows the wrong type of plane and the wrong kind of fire coming from the airliner, according to Steve Chadwick, a former Royal Air Force commander.

Experts see the crash as another major setback for Egypt’s struggling tourism industry, a vital part of its economy.

“It’s laughable that they might claim that is an Airbus 321. That is not an Airbus,” Chadwick told Mirror Online.

“Even though the footage is very grainy that is an aircraft with the engines under the tail,” Chadwick said. “If the engine was on fire it would be coming from under the wing.”

The Kogalymavia Airbus A-321 crashed on Oct. 31, shortly after leaving the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh for the Russian city of St. Petersburg. The crash killed 224 people. The plane’s black boxes have been found and sent for analysis, officials said.

Egyptian Prime Minister Sharif Ismail dismissed the ISIL claim.

Though ISIL is equipped with numerous Manpads (shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles), experts said an airliner could not be shot down by a Manpad at the altitude the Airbus 321 was flying at.

The airliner was at an altitude of 9,450 meters (31,000 feet) when it disappeared, according to Egypt’s civilian aviation ministry.

  Kogalymavia Airbus A-321, Manpads, Sharif Ismail, Video claiming ISIL shot down Russian plane over Sinai called ‘laughable’, WorldTribune.com