The Russian airliner broke apart over the Sinai Peninsula about 20 minutes after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh.
Advertisement
In addition, the arrest on Sunday of Salah Diab, the largest shareholder of the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm who was detained with his son, and also the detention the same day of leading investigative journalist and human rights advocate Hossam Bahgat, also dampened the mood in the market, said Elalfy.
The head of a committee investigating the recent crash of a Russian plane in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula says a “noise” was registered in the last second of the recording of cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of the aircraft.
“All this has actually caused a panic among the tourists”, he said, speaking at the tourism fair, which he had hoped would bring a fresh start after the years of upheaval following Mubarak’s ouster.
Another person close to the case in Paris said the plane had suffered “a violent, sudden” end, saying: “Everything was normal during the flight, absolutely normal, and suddenly there was nothing”.
The plane was headed from the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, Russia, on October 31. On Sunday, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed temporary flight ban law.
Tour operators and airlines are to reimburse them for extended stays, but many tourists blamed their airlines for “mismanaging” the situation.
Baker and her boyfriend were scheduled to fly out Friday after a week of holidays in the Red Sea town, but instead are stuck like thousands of fellow holidaymakers after Britain suspended flights to Sharm el-Sheikh over last week’s crash of a Russian airliner.
Intelligence suggests the plane was downed by a bomb, western officials have said.
As the suspicions grew, Russian Federation appeared unwilling to countenance the possibility, and Egyptian officials played down terrorism as a cause of the crash, with President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi calling the IS claim “propaganda” created to embarrass his government.
Standing in a crush of people waiting to go through security, British tourist Terrance Mathurian said hotel staff told him and his family in the morning to head to the airport despite the conflicting information.
The militant, Ashraf Ali Ali Hassanein al-Gharabli, was shot dead in an exchange of fire after police tried to arrest him in Cairo, the interior ministry said in a statement. Security guards and caterers were also being inspected.
The Russian government, which initially played down suggestions that the crash was caused by terrorists, has suspended all air traffic with Egypt until the cause of the crash is determined. The industry had been making a gradual recovery after years of political upheaval since the 2011 popular uprising that deposed longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Eastern European visitors, including people from former Soviet satellite states like Ukraine, made up a crucial 45 percent of all tourist arrivals in June, according to Egyptian government statistics.
The Egyptian branch of the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for downing the plane.
They said “all possible scenarios” – including mechanical failure – were still being considered as the reason for the crash.
But the pileup of checked-in luggage overwhelmed the airport and disrupted flight operations, said Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal.
He added that Russia’s air campaign in Syria will continue regardless of the outcome.
News that officials were reviewing camera footage at the airport came shortly before investigators who have examined the plane’s black boxes were due to speak about their work so far.
The bombing theory emerged Wednesday, when Britain suspended flights from Sharm el-Sheikh to the United Kingdom because of security fears.
Advertisement
“The spread of terrorism, which we have for a long time called on our partners to tackle more seriously, did not get through to numerous parties which are now exposed and which are currently working for the interests of their citizens to face this danger”, Reuters quoted Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry as saying at a press conference.
