--- description: "I think there is a possibility there was a bomb on board. And we are taking that very seriously." title: President Obama: 'There Is a Possibility' There Was a Bomb on Russian Plane image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc77e1c88969e1f4/69886fd8524fc03aa5df55a2/gettyimages-495396266.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [russia](/tag/russia/) ## russia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # President Obama: Bomb on Russian Jet a 'Possibility' by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 5, 2015 11:32 PM CUT  President Obama speaks at the Rutgers University-Newark S.I. Newhouse Center for Law and Justice in Newark, New Jersey on Nov. 2, 2015. President Obama speaks at the Rutgers University-Newark S.I. Newhouse Center for Law and Justice in Newark, New Jersey on Nov. 2, 2015.Andrew Burton—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 5, 2015 11:32 PM CUT President Barack Obama said Thursday there is a “possibility” [there was a bomb onboard](http://mynorthwest.com/813/2840911/President-Obama-Certainly-possible-that-there-was-a-bomb-on-board-Russian-plane "undefined") the Russian airliner that [crashed in Egypt](http://time.com/4095354/egypt-plane-crash-confirmed-russian-aircraft-lost-sinai-peninsula/ "undefined") on Saturday, killing all 224 people on the flight. “I don’t think we know yet,” said Obama when asked about the cause of the accident, which ISIS has claimed responsibility for, during a Thursday interview with Seattle radio host Dave Ross. “Whenever you got a plane crash, first of all you got the tragedy, you got making sure there’s an investigation on site,” Obama said . “I think there is a possibility there was a bomb onboard. And we are taking that very seriously.” Obama said the U.S. would “spend a lot of time making sure our own investigators and our own intelligence community knows exactly what’s going on before making any definitive pronouncements.” The President spoke during a round of local interviews from the White House on Thursday. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest also reiterated that the investigations from last weekend’s crash are not yet complete and therefore a concrete determination cannot be made. Russian officials are not drawing any conclusions ahead of the investigation. \[[MyNorthwest](http://mynorthwest.com/813/2840911/President-Obama-Certainly-possible-that-there-was-a-bomb-on-board-Russian-plane "undefined")\] ### See Photos From the Russian Plane Crash and Its Aftermath  An Egyptian soldier stands guard as emergency workers unload bodies of victims from the crash of a Russian aircraft over the Sinai peninsula from a police helicopter to ambulances at the military airport in Kabrit, Egypt, on Oct. 31, 2015 Amr Nabil—AP  Debris from crashed Russian jet lies strewn across the sand at the site of the crash in the Sinai region in Egypt on Oct. 31, 2015. EPA  Wreckage at the site where a Russian aircraft crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula near El Arish city, on Nov. 1, 2015. Maxim Grigoryev—ITAR-TASS/Corbis  Ambulances transporting the bodies of the victims of the Russian passenger flight crash arrive at the Zeinhom morgue in Cairo on Oct. 31, 2015. Mohammed Hossam—EPA  People arrange candles to make a cross to commemorate 224 victims of a Russian airliner which crashed in Egypt, on the stairs of the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow on Nov. 1, 2015. Maxim Shemetov—Reuters ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4102166/president-obama-bomb-on-russian-jet-a-possibility/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4102166/president-obama-bomb-on-russian-jet-a-possibility/"},"headline":"President Obama: Bomb on Russian Jet a 'Possibility'","datePublished":"2015-11-05T23:32:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:02.175Z","description":"\"I think there is a possibility there was a bomb on board. 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