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Nov. 1, 2015, 8:40 AM GMT / Updated Nov. 2, 2015, 12:48 AM GMT By Alexey Eremenko, The Associated Press, Charlene Gubash and Cassandra Vinograd

The Russian plane that crashed over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula "broke up in the air," a Russian aviation official said on Sunday, as airlines halted flights over the region while waiting for clarity on what downed the airliner.

Viktor Sorochenko, an official with the Intergovernmental Aviation Committee, said it appeared that the Airbus A321 operated by Metrojet broke up midair before crashing Saturday with 224 people on board. Sorochenko said it was too early to make assumptions based on this finding after he made the comments following a visit to the crash site with other investigators Sunday, according to Reuters.

Alexander Neradko, head of Russia's federal aviation agency, similarly said investigators believe the plane disintegrated at a high altitude because the plane's fragments have been found scattered over a large area. He also stressed that the investigation into the cause of the crash was ongoing.

Photos: Investigators Search Crash Site of Russian Plane

No one aboard the flight survived after the plane traveling from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg crashed shortly after takeoff in the Sinai Peninsula.

Russia's Federal Transportation Inspection Service said Sunday it has barred Metrojet from flying Airbus A321s pending the outcome of the crash investigation. Metrojet said in a statement that the move is standard procedure, and the airline is "sure of the technical safety of our planes and high professionalism of the pilots."

In a separate statement, the airline said it had full faith in the expertise of the plane's pilot, identified as Valery Nemov. The airline said Nemov had thousands of hours of experience.

The doomed plane came down in an area that has witnessed fierce fighting between Egyptian soldiers and Islamist insurgents. Officials, however, have dismissed claims the plane was shot down, saying militants lacked the weapons to do it.

Egyptian Abdel Fattah el-Sisi warned against speculating about the cause of the crash, saying in televised remarks that the investigation could take months.

Still, several airlines opted to suspend flights over Sinai pending further clarity over what caused the plane crash. Emirates — the Middle East's largest airline — announced it was stopping flights over Sinai on Sunday, mirroring moves a day earlier from Air France and Lufthansa, according to The Associated Press. Fly Dubai also announced Sunday that it would re-route its flights.

Germany's Ministry of Transportation issued a warning about routing flights through the south of Sinai. The ministry already had a previous warning in place about flying through the north of Sinai.

Lingering suspicions were also evident in St. Petersburg, where hundreds of worshippers lit candles, laid flowers and prayed for the victims at the Kazan cathedral.

"Everyone thinks it was... these Islamic fundamentalists," Mikhail Kudryavtsev told the AP.

Andrei Bryatov, 30, who knew a family that was on the flight, said he would leave the determination about the cause of the crash to investigators. "I don't know what happened. I leave it to the experts. The truth will be what they say," Bryatov said.