Meanwhile, a number of the victims’ bodies have just arrived in a morgue in Cairo.
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Egyptian security officials said there were no survivors among the 217 passengers- 214 Russians and three Ukrainians – and seven crew members.
Egypt’s state-run Ahram Online news website quoted earlier an official as saying that the crash was caused by a “technical failure” and the plane was not shot down.
The Egyptian officials, he said, had not confirmed the claim by Islamic State militants who said they “brought down a Russian plane over Sinai state with more than 220 Russian crusaders on board”.
Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov told Interfax news agency that “such reports can not be considered true”.
The plane lost contact with Egyptian air traffic controllers and reportedly failed to make scheduled contact with Cyprus. It crashed about 23 minutes after takeoff into the middle of the Sinai Peninsula.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on her Facebook page that Russian Embassy personnel in Egypt are working to clarify the situation.
The IDF said it would be ready to offer further assistance to the two countries if necessary.
The first rescue workers at the scene described the plane as “completely destroyed” and an Egyptian security officer told Reuters that many passengers had died strapped in to their seats.
A plane carrying 224 people heading for St. Petersburg, Russian Federation from a resort town in Egypt crashed several hours ago, leaving everyone on board dead in an bad tragedy. The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Moscow’s emergency ministry to dispatch rescue teams to Egypt. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his French counterpart Francois Hollande said they had sent their condolences to Moscow.
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He said: “Although hostile action has been dismissed I am absolutely certain that will be one of the focuses of investigators on the ground”.
