There were no survivors among the 224 people aboard a Russian airliner that crashed early Saturday in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula shortly after takeoff from a Red Sea resort town, according to Egyptian officials.
The Metrojet flight, carrying 217 passengers and seven crew members, was en route from Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt to St. Petersburg when it dropped off radar screens 23 minutes into the flight.
The Russian state-run news agency RIA reported initially that emergency workers heard some voices at the crash site, but the Associated Press quoted Egyptian officials later as saying there were no survivors.
Airport authorities said all 224 people aboard Metrojet Flight 7K9268 were Russian, the Russian news agency RIA reports . The passengers included 17 children, aged 2 to 17, according to Russian authorities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a statement expressing his condolences to the families of the victims and declared a day of mourning. A team of Russian investigators was sent immediately to Egypt, according to Russia’s Emergencies Ministry, RIA reports.
There was no other immediate word on the cause of the crash, although the Egyptian government ruled out the possibility that it could have been shot down.
An Egyptian aviation official says the pilot of the Airbus A-3221 had reported technical difficulties before losing contact with air traffic controllers. Ayman al-Muqadem, a member of the Aviation Incidents Committee, said the pilot had reported his intention to attempt to land at the nearest airport.
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