(CNN)New information suggests a midair flash -- possibly an explosion -- was detected on Metrojet Flight 9268 before it crashed in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, a U.S. official said Tuesday.
A midair heat flash from the Russian airliner was detected by a U.S. military satellite before the plane crashed Saturday, the official told CNN.
Intelligence analysis has ruled out that the Russian commercial airplane was struck by a missile, but the new information suggests that there was a catastrophic in-flight event -- including possibly a bomb, though experts are considering other explanations, according to U.S. officials.