Worldwide investigators on Sunday began the probe into the crash of a Russian Airbus, Kogalymavia Flight 9268, in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that killed all 224 people on board.
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The Airbus A321 operated by Metrojet was headed to St. Petersburg from Sharm el-Sheikh when it crashed shortly after takeoff in the Sinai peninsula on Saturday, killing all 224 people on board.
Germany’s Lufthansa, Emirates and Air France all said they would halt flights over Sinai until the reasons behind the crash became clear. We are closely monitoring the situation.
Etihad said in a statement that it was “complying with instructions by the Egyptian authorities to avoid certain areas of airspace over the Sinai peninsula”, which would affect only a handful of flights.
Three carriers based in the United Arab Emirates airlines – Emirates, Air Arabia and flydubai – said on Sunday they were re-routing flights to avoid flying over Sinai.
There were no indications the plane was shot down, Egyptian security sources told Reuters. “A lot of dead on the ground and many who died whilst strapped to their seats”.
The authority added that the aircraft failed to make scheduled contact with Cyprus air traffic control 23 minutes after take-off and disappeared from the radar. “They can put out whatever statements they want but there is no proof at this point that terrorists were responsible for this plane crash”.
Faded smears of blood could be seen at the crash site but all the bodies found so far have already been removed, with most now lying in Cairo’s Zeinhom morgue awaiting DNA identification.
The group made the announcement in a statement circulated by supporters on Twitter.
The Emergencies Ministry said Sunday its emergency teams were being accompanied by the Egyptian military through the restive northern Sinai, where Egypt is fighting an Islamic insurgency.
The claim of responsibility was also carried by the Aamaq website which acts as a semi official news agency for Islamic State.
Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, launched air raids against opposition groups in Syria including Islamic State on September 30.
Speaking to high-ranking army officers in Cairo on Sunday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi asked them to observe a moment of silence before urging the public not to jump to conclusions. Egyptian officials had said 213 of the passengers were Russian and four were Ukrainian, but Russian officials said at least one of the victims was from Belarus. The country is also preparing to receive the families of the victims.
About 150 bodies, including burnt corpses, have been found in a three-mile radius around the wreckage and the identification process has started, foreign media reported.
A Russian TV channel on Saturday quoted the wife of the co-pilot as saying her husband had complained about the plane’s condition.
“At six am she sent me a text message saying: I’m boarding. God be with me.’ And that was it”, he said. There are more than 1,100 in operation worldwide and it has a good safety record. It is a highly automated aircraft relying on computers to help pilots stay within safe flying limits.
Cairo and Moscow have both downplayed the claim from the Islamic State’s (IS) branch in Egypt that it brought down the aircraft flown by Kogalymavia airline, operating under the name Metrojet, en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to Saint Petersburg. The aircraft had clocked up around 56,000 flight hours over the course of almost 21,000 flights, it said.
Emergency services and aviation specialists searched the wreckage for any clues to the crash. Its fleet consists of two A320s and seven A321s.
Egypt PM Sherif Ismail at the site of the crash.
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Egyptian officials have suggested the crash may have been caused by a technical failure.
