Mystery over Russian jet crash that killed 224 in Egypt
A RUSSIAN tourist plane with 224 passengers and crew on board crashed in Egpyt’s Sinai peninsula yesterday. There were no survivors.
Speculation over the cause of the crash was growing last night after a militant group linked to Islamic State in Egypt claimed they had downed the plane. However, both Egyptian and Russian sources pointed to a technical problem as the most likely cause.
The charter flight was at 36,000ft when communication was lost 23 minutes after its departure – which is too high to be hit by weaponry known to be in the hands of militants in the region. Despite this, German airline Lufthansa said it would avoid flying over Sinai ‘as long as the cause for the crash has not been clarified’. British Airways and easyJet said they had no plans to alter routes.
The Airbus A321 sought an emergency landing soon after taking off from the holiday resort Sharm-el-Sheik, with the pilot of the St Petersburg-bound plane reporting a technical problem, according to sources. There were claims he called for assistance before take-off because one of the plane’s engines had not started ‘several times this week’.
‘Many died in their seats with belts on,’ said an Egyptian secret services source, while another source said bodies were found in a three-mile radius. Seventeen children are believed to have been among those who died on the Kogalymavia airline flight and, in St Petersburg, there were scenes of grief among loved ones.
Moscow officials rejected the theory that pilot error could be to blame.