On Friday morning, dozens of busses waited outside the Sharm el-Sheikh airport, the line stretching up to a kilometer (half mile) as police inspected each vehicle, with mostly Russian and British tourists.
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On Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama said “there is a possibility” that a bomb destroyed the Russian jetliner.
“As long as we haven’t established the causes of the incident, I consider it appropriate to suspend the flights of Russian aircraft to Egypt”, FSB director Aleksandr Bortnikov told a meeting of the Russian Anti-Terror Committee on Friday.
But the crash could expose holes in security measures at overseas airports where US airports do operate, security analysts and members of Congress said Thursday.
The St. Petersburg-bound Airbus A321 crashed on Saturday in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula shortly after taking off from the Sharm el-Sheikh resort, killing 224 people, in Russia’s largest ever air disaster.
Russian Federation should suspend all flights to Egypt until the cause of the crash near Sharm el-Sheikh resort is determined, Russia’s security chief says.
British tourists are now stranded in the popular resort of Sharm el-Sheikh after all United Kingdom flights to and from the local airport were suspended Wednesday after a Russian plane crashed in Egypt last weekend.
But airline easyJet announced that departures were being blocked by the Egyptian authorities, with discussions taking place “at the highest political level” to try to resolve the situation.
Those passengers who did fly out were allowed to carry hand luggage only, with their check-in bags to follow separately.
EasyJet’s plans to run “rescue” flights out of Sharm el-Sheikh have been halted by Egyptian authorities, with the airline now urging customers to extend their stay for at least two more days. We continue to work closely with both the Egyptian authorities and the airline carriers to get people safely home as quickly as possible. Militants in Sinai linked with the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the downing of the aircraft.
“We need to receive absolutely objective and confirmed information about the crash of the plane”, he said.
Cameron cited intelligence and information that he says indicates that a bomb was the likely cause of the accident.
British officials believe someone with access to the cargo hold placed an explosive device on the plane prior to take-off, the BBC reported Friday.
The development is likely to hinder Britain’s attempts to smoothly bring back the estimated 20,000 United Kingdom nationals in Sharm el-Sheikh.
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“We have asked them to organise eight flights only, and one plane will transport luggage”, Kamal said.
