Cairo: A Russian plane with 224 people on board crashed Saturday in Egypt amid reports that all the 224 people aboard had died.
Egyptian aviation authorities said they had lost contact with the Airbus A320 minutes after it departed from the resort town of Sharm Al Shaikh in South Egypt at 05.51 am (07.51 UAE time).
All the 217 passengers on board were Russian tourists, Egyptian officials said. The plane had also seven crew members.
The plane, belonging to the Russian airline Kagalymavia, crashed in Al Hassana, a mountainous area around 70 kilometres south of the city of Al Arish in North Sinai.
Bodies of at least 100 victims were flown to Cairo, according to state-run newspaper Al Ahram. Body parts of others are being collected for identification.
A spokesman for the Health Ministry, however, said there is no specific tally yet of the victims.
The vast desert Sinai Peninsula is a hotbed for radical Islamists who have over the past months claimed deadly attacks against security forces there.
Egyptian officials ruled out that the plane crash was the outcome of a criminal act.
UAE President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, sent a cable of heartfelt condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Also, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, sent similar cables of condolences to the Russian president.
Egyptian State television said that the flight data recorder was found. Prosecutors are keeping the black box and wreckage of the aircraft for investigations, according to the broadcaster.
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi offered his condolences to Russian government and people and cut short a trip to Manama to return to Egypt.
“The president has been following the developments of this painful accident since his return to the homeland [from a foreign trip],” the statement said.
Al Sissi ordered investigations into the incident to be carried out “seriously and swiftly”.
Prime Minister Sharif Esmail arrived at the site of the catastrophe accompanied by several government ministers.
“A team will go to the site [of the crash] to open an investigation,” Esmail said following an emergency meeting in Cairo.
“Coordination is under way with the Russian ambassador in Cairo about the incident and efforts being made by the Egyptian government,” he added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered rescue planes to fly to Egypt to carry the victims.
The captain of the ill-fated airliner sought permission from Egyptian aviation authorities an emergency landing following take-off due to a technical glitch, according to unconfirmed reports.
“He requested permission to land at the nearest airport because of a problem in the wireless device. Then contact was the lost with the plane and disappeared from the radar,” Al Ahram said, quoting an unnamed aviation official. A Russian team was expected soon to join Egyptian investigators.
Egyptian Civil Ministry said that the findings will be made public once they are completed.
The plane was flying at the height of 31,000 feet before it disappeared from the radar, the ministry added.
