Russian plane crashEPISODE 151102 / 02 NOV 2015

Step 1: Listen

You're going to hear a genuine BBC news report. Before you listen, read these three summaries.

a) People's mistakes were not the cause of the Russian plane crash, according to the plane's owners.

b) Something from outside the aircraft caused a Russian plane to crash in Egypt, according to the plane's owners.

c) The plane's owners said that a problem with the tail caused it to crash.

Now listen and decide which one is correct. Listen again if you need to.

Step 2: Learn the key words and listen again

How was that? Try listening again. Here are four definitions of key vocabulary items which may help you.

external forces energy coming from outside an object or system

ruled out decided that something is not possible

acknowledged accept the truth or existence of something

Step 3: Transcript and answer

The Russian airline whose plane crashed in the Sinai with the loss of 224 lives has said that external forces were the only possible reason for the disaster.

At a news conference in Moscow, a senior official of the airline Metrojet ruled out a technical fault and pilot error.

He acknowledged that there had been damage to the plane's tail before it took off from Egypt but said the damage had been repaired.

Answer

b) Something from outside the aircraft caused a Russian plane to crash in Egypt, according to the plane's owners.

This bulletin comes from BBC World Service Radio.