Cairo (dpa) - There is no evidence that a terrorist act was behind the October 31 crash of a Russian passenger jet which killed all the 224 people on board, Egypt said on Monday.

"The technical investigation commission has not received, so far, any indication that ther was an unlawful interference or a terrorist act [in the crash]," Ayman al-Moqdam, who heads an Egyptian-led investigation commission, said in an Arabic statement released by the Civil Aviation Ministry.

The statement said this was a preliminary report and that the panel would continue its work.

The airliner was heading from the popular Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh to Russia's second-largest city, St Petersburg, when it exploded in mid-air about 20 minutes after take-off on October 31.

The Egyptian conclusion is the opposite of Russia's, where authorities say they have confirmed that the Airbus A321 was brought down by a terrorist bomb. The terrorist Islamic State militia has claimed it was behind the downing.

The crash was the deadliest civil aviation disaster in Russian history.