Russian passenger jet crashes in Egypt’s Sinai

MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/. Russia’s Kolavia A321 passenger jet en route from Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh to Russia’s St. Petersburg has crashed in North Sinai on Saturday. According to latest data, the plane was carrying 217 passengers, including 17 youngsters, and seven crewmembers. More than 100 bodies have already been recovered at the crash site while the search and rescue operation continues. The Russian Embassy in Cairo has opened a hotline for the relatives of the victims of the plane crash. The embassy told TASS that "there is no information on any survivors at the moment". It was earlier reported that voices were heard from one part of the plane when rescuers started searching the debris. Egypt is preparing for arrival of Russian officials from Emergencies Ministry and Rosaviatsiya aviation agency. The Egyptian government "expressed deepest condolences over the plane crash". According to Egyptian media, the country’s Prime Minister Sheri Ismail expressed condolences to Russian Ambassador in Cairo Sergey Kirpichenko and said that he "personally oversees government’s efforts on investigating the circumstances of the plane crash". Meanwhile, Russia’s Rosturizm tourism agency is currently trying to verify which tour operator supervised passengers onboard the crashed plane. "We are working in close contact with Emergencies Ministry, Foreign Ministry, Russian Embassy in Egypt and Rosaviatsiya to establish which tour operators supervised tourists onboard. It was a consolidated charter flight. According to preliminary information, tourists of Brisco tour operator were onboard," Rosturizm head Oleg Safronov told TASS. Russian Health Ministry opened special aid stations for relatives of victims of the crashed plane to provide necessary medical and psychological assistance. Read more