All 224 Flight Passengers Aboard Killed in Plane Crash
| Incident | : A Russian airliner crashed |
| Location | : Egypt’s Sinai peninsula |
| Casualties | : 224 people died |
Reports say a Russian airliner ‘broke up in mid-air’ and crashed in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, killing all 224 onboard. The plane came down early on Saturday, shortly after leaving the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for the Russian city of St Petersburg
Russian and French investigators have joined the Egyptian-led probe, along with experts from Airbus, which is headquartered in France.
Russia observed a day of mourning on Sunday after its worst air disaster.
The head of Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee, said it was too early to conclude what caused the crash on Saturday.
A number of major airlines – Emirates, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and Qatar Airways – have decided not to fly over the Sinai Peninsula until more information is available. Two smaller carriers, flydubai and Air Arabia, also said they would re-route flights, while Etihad Airways said it would avoid only “certain areas of airspace” over Sinai.
Germany’s transport ministry has told German airlines not to follow the same route taken by the Russian plane.
British Airways said it regularly assessed the safety of its routes. BA said it would not confirm flight routes, but that it “would never fly a route unless it was safe to do so”.
