Russian jets ferry tourists out of Egypt
CAIRO — Thousands of Russian tourists left Egypt on Monday aboard special planes sent by Russia, which has suspended all flights to Egypt because of security concerns in the aftermath of an Oct. 31 plane crash that killed all 224 people on board.
Airliners from Britain and Western Europe also were arriving in Egypt to take their citizens home, after several countries and airlines last week suspended flights.
U. S. and British officials have said intelligence reports indicate the Metrojet flight from the Sinai resort town of Sharm el- Sheikh to St. Petersburg, Russia, was taken down by a bomb. Most of the 224 people on board were Russian tourists.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Monday that it “now looks more likely than not to have been an explosive device smuggled on to the plane” by operatives or loyalists of the Islamic State group.
Hammond, speaking at the United Nations headquarters in New York, said the U. K. was willing to resume flights to Sharm el- Sheikh but added, “That will depend on us working together with the Egyptian authorities and with the airlines to put in place security arrangements which are robust.”
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Monday that there was a “high probability” that the plane was taken down by a bomb.
Yaalon said he “would be surprised” if a planted explosive device did not cause the crash. But he noted that Israel is not involved in the investigation and said his opinion was based on “what we hear and understand.”
Since the Russian suspension of flights to Egypt was announced Friday, dozens of airliners have been taking Russian tourists home, carrying only cabin baggage.
Russian cargo planes are hauling back the rest of their luggage. Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said in a statement that authorities transported more than 130 tons of the tourists’ luggage on four cargo planes Monday.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said it would take about two weeks to take all the stranded Russian tourists home. Dvorkovich said 25,000 have left Egypt in the past few days.
Losses for tour operators may reach $ 200 million if the ban on flights remains in force for two or three months, the Russian tourism group ATOR said in a statement Monday. Operators are seeking state guarantees on loans to compensate tourists who can’t fly to Egypt after the ban, it said.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he does not expect flights to Egypt to resume any time soon, saying that “it will take time” to ensure the safety of travelers in Egypt.
“The chance it was a terrorist act, obviously, remains as an explanation for what happened,” Medvedev said, according to a transcript of an interview by the state- owned Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper Monday. “That’s why this decision was made” to halt flights “on the basis of recommendations and materials prepared by the anti- terrorism committee,” he said.
Medvedev is the first senior Russian official to declare that terrorism may have caused the crash. Russia has said it has no evidence to support assertions that a bomb may have downed the plane, though officials say investigators are exploring all possible causes.
Concerns about Egyptian security procedures have also gained attention in recent days.
Dutch carrier KLM announced that it would begin using “its own personnel to carry out security screening” of checked- in luggage on flights out of Cairo’s airport. Late last week, the airline banned passengers from checking in baggage at the airport in Cairo, citing “national and international information” as the reason for the move. KLM spokesman Gedi Schrijver said the airline will use security guards and dogs to check baggage.
A team from the International Civil Aviation Organization inspected Cairo’s international airport on Monday, with the checks expected to include security and baggage handling.
The organization scheduled the visit before the crash.
It was the second day of inspections for the United Nations agency, which will continue to examine the airport until Thursday.
Islamic State extremists have claimed they downed the Metrojet flight without offering evidence.
Information for this article was contributed by Brian Rohan and Edith M. Lederer of The Associated Press and Andrey Biryukov, Anton Doroshev and Ilya Arkhipov of Bloomberg News.