A Russian passenger plane, Air Kolavia flight 7K9268, carrying about 224 people made up of 217 passengers and seven crew members has crashed on Saturday, October 31, 2015 in central Sinai.
After the routine check, the passenger plane took off from the popular Sharm el-Sheikh resort at 5.51am and was headed to St Petersburg, before it went off-radar 23 minutes later.
According to reports, all the passengers who were thought to be mostly Russian tourists returning from vacation, died from the crash in Southern Arish, Sinai.
Egyptian security sources claim there are is no indication the plane was shot down, addng that it crashed possibly as a result of some technical failures, according to Metro UK.
Confirming the crash, Egyptian Prime Minister, Sherif Ismail, said they have constituted a cabinet-level crisis committee to carry out an investigation into the incident.
The Egyptian air accident chief initially said the Airbus A-321 left Egyptian airspace and made contact with Turkish air control, leading to speculations it had gone missing in Cyprus.
A source in the Russian air traffic controller said that the plane did not contact controllers in Larnaca while another source at Sharm el-Sheikh Airport told Russian news agency RIA Novosti that the pilot had requested a change of course, saying the jet would need to land in Cairo.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared an Sunday, November 1, 2015 as an official day of mourning for the deceased victims.
