The bodies of those sent back to Saint Petersburg were due to be taken in a motorcade to a crematorium for identification, which will begin later on Monday, according to Russia’s emergency ministry. On arrival, the first bodies were loaded onto stretchers and carried into a large white lorry waiting on the runway at Pulkovo Airport.
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The jet, a modified A320, was flying from the holiday resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg in the Russian Federation when it lost radar contact and went down early Saturday in a mountainous area of central Sinai.
Andrei Bryatov, 30, who knew a family that was on the flight, said he would leave the determination about the cause of the crash to investigators.
The Islamic State group is claiming responsibility for bringing down the Russian Metrojet plane in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula – but it has have offered no evidence and is not known to have the capability to do so.
Egyptian Prime Minister Sharif Ismail said experts had confirmed the militants could not down an aircraft at the 9,000-meter altitude the Airbus 321 was flying, while Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said the claim “cannot be considered accurate”.
The Russian airplane that crashed in Egypt early yesterday morning split apart in mid-air before falling to the ground, according to Russian aviation experts. Officials say there are no survivors and the cause is still unknown. Most of the passengers were Russian, but at least three were Ukrainian and one Belarusian.
The airlines said they would not return to that route until the cause of the crash has been determined – but conflicting reports on the doomed plane’s condition kept pouring the day after the catastrophe.
As many as 187 dead bodies were found so far in the scene of the crash, official MENA news agency reported.
Both black boxes have been recovered.
President Vladimir Putin declared a nationwide day of mourning on Sunday, and flags flew at half-staff across the country.
The passenger manifest included 17 children but Russian officials said there were 25 aboard. Air France, Lufthansa, and Emirates airlines have rerouted flights to avoid the Sinai Peninsula until officials determine there’s no risk of surface-to-air missile attacks.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said speculation should be left to investigators.
Russian Federation has a dismal air safety record, and while larger carriers have started to upgrade their ageing fleets the crash will likely raise concerns about smaller airlines like Kogalymavia.
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However, a Russian TV channel late on Saturday quoted the wife of the co-pilot as saying her husband had complained about the plane’s condition.
