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Russian Plane Crash in Sinai Peninsula Kills 224 Russian Airliner Crashes in Egypt, Killing 224
(about 1 hour later)
CAIRO — All 224 people aboard a Russian airliner that crashed in Egypt early Saturday have been confirmed dead, officials say. MOSCOW — A Russian charter flight ferrying 224 passengers and crew to St. Petersburg from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh crashed soon after taking off early Saturday, killing everyone onboard, officials in Egypt and Russia said.
An Egyptian cabinet statement on Saturday morning said that military aircraft had spotted the wreckage of the Airbus plane in a mountainous area in Sinai. The Russian Embassy in Cairo said that all on board the plane had been killed. The plane, an 18-year-old Airbus A321, disappeared from radar screens about 25 minutes after it took off from the Egyptian resort, according to official accounts. The pilot had radioed that he had technical problems and needed to make an emergency landing, press reports in Egypt quoted officials there as saying.
The Egyptian statement said that the plane had been carrying 217 passengers and seven crew members. It left the airport in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh shortly before 6 a.m. and disappeared from radar screens at 6:20 a.m. The Egyptian civil aviation ministry said the plane was at an altitude of 31,000 feet when it disappeared. It also said that search and rescue teams had reached the wreckage, in the Hasana district, south of the city of Arish in the northern Sinai Peninsula. The plane had apparently been trying to land at the airport at Al-Arish, in northern Sinai, when it crashed in the Hasana region, a mountainous area south of the city.
Speaking on a nationally broadcast news conference, Maxim Sokolov, Russia’s minister of transportation, said the cause had yet to be confirmed. Russian news reports said that preliminary details gave no indication that the plane was shot down. Hours after the crash, a branch of the Islamic State operating in the Sinai Peninsula issued a claim of responsibility. There has been a violent insurgency for several years against the Egyptian government in Sinai, but there has been no indication that the terrorist organization there possesses the weapons needed to bring down a plane from a high altitude.
Vladimir V. Putin, the president of Russia, ordered the establishment of a state commission to investigate the crash. The Russian government also announced it was dispatching a special plane from its emergency services to take a team of investigators and rescuers to the scene. Mr. Putin also declared Sunday a day of mourning for the victims. Maxim Sokolov, the Russian minister of transportation, issued a statement rejecting reports that the plane had been shot down.
The plane was operated by Kogalymavia, which is privately owned, and officially changed its name to MetroJet several years ago. It operates five Airbus A-321s. The flight, Kogalymavia 9268, had been scheduled to land at Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg. Airbus said in a statement that the plane was an A321-200 manufactured in 1997 and that it had been operated by MetroJet since 2012. “This information cannot be considered credible,” Mr. Sokolov said. “We are in a close contact with our Egyptian colleagues, with the aviation authorities of this country. At the moment they have no information that would confirm such fabrications.”
The plane requested an emergency landing before disappearing, the Interfax report said. Aircraft crew members had previously complained about the state of one engine, the RIA Novosti agency reported. The plane was flying at 31,000 feet when it began to descend, and the general range of the shoulder-fired missiles commonly known as Manpads that have been used against Egyptian military helicopters in the region is much lower, around 20,000 feet.
Russian news reports quoted a website called FlightRadar 24, which tracks air traffic around the globe, as saying the plane was descending at a rate of 6,000 feet per minute just before it disappeared from radar. Speaking on a nationally broadcast news conference, Mr. Sokolov said the cause of the crash had yet to be confirmed. Russian news reports said that preliminary details gave no indication that the plane was shot down.
Those on board the flight were Russian tourists, including 17 children, according to Russian officials. Asked about a possible link to terrorism and warnings not to fly over that region due to the insurgency there, Mr. Sokolov said the Egyptian government had not closed the airspace over the Sinai Peninsula.
Asked about a possible link to terrorism and warnings not to fly over that region due to the violent insurgency there, Mr. Sokolov said that the Egyptian government had not closed the airspace over the Sinai Peninsula. Egyptian military aircraft spotted the wreckage of the plane in a mountainous area in Sinai, according to a government statement. All on board the plane had been killed, the Russian Embassy in Cairo said in a brief statement on Twitter.
Apart from coastal resorts in the south, much of the Sinai Peninsula is a closed military zone and the location of a long-running insurgency by jihadist groups against the government of Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Press reports in Egypt quoted the initial security services who reached they site as saying the plane had broken in two, with many of the passengers still strapped in their seats. The Egyptian government dispatched about 50 ambulances to collect the remains of the passengers.
A branch of the Islamic State located in Sinai issued a statement claiming responsibility for downing the Russian airliner, according to a translation provided by the Washington-based SITE Intelligence group. The claim of responsibility, in a statement issued online, could not immediately be verified. The Egyptian statement said that the plane had been carrying 217 passengers, including 17 children, and seven crew members. Everyone onboard was Russian, most from the St. Petersburg region, except for three passengers from Ukraine and one from Belarus.
In the statement, which the SITE Intelligence Group said was issued by the Sinai Province of the Islamic State, the group indicated that the plane had been brought down in retaliation for Russia’s military actions in Syria. The plane left the airport in the resort city shortly before 6 a.m. and disappeared from radar screens at 6:20 a.m.
A website called Flightradar24, which tracks air traffic around the globe, said the plane had been descending at a rate of 6,000 feet per minute just before it disappeared from radar. Eyewitnesses reported one engine on fire as it went down, according to a report in Masry Al-Youm, an Egyptian newspaper.
In St. Petersburg, friends and relatives who showed up at Pulkovo airport to meet the flight were shuttled to the nearby Crown Plaza hotel. They remained cordoned off in a corner of the lobby, awaiting developments. A Russian Orthodox priest and at least one grief counselor circled among them.
Occasionally one of those waiting would wander through the lobby, shedding tears, but they declined to address reporters.
Vladimir V. Putin, the president of Russia, ordered the establishment of a state commission to investigate the crash. The Russian government also announced it was dispatching a plane from its emergency services to take a team of investigators and rescuers to the scene.
Mr. Putin also declared Sunday a day of mourning for the victims, and all entertainment programs on Russian television were canceled. It was the deadliest accident in Russian aviation history, press reports in Russia said.
A criminal investigation was opened, although there was no immediate announcement of any specific accusations.
The plane was operated by Kogalymavia, which is privately owned, and flies airplanes under the name Metrojet. Some Russians who have flown the airline took to Twitter to complain about the condition of the airplanes, with one saying a window was held in place with duct tape and another saying that on a recent flight to Turkey his seat had no seatbelt. Those claims were not immediately verifiable.
There was nothing remarkable about the airline’s safety record, though the fuel tank on one of its planes exploded before departure from the Siberian city of Surgut in 2011, and the ensuing blaze killed three people.
The airline issued a statement saying that there had been no human error attributable to the experienced pilots. The plane was in good mechanical order, it said.
Russian press reports quoted unidentified sources as saying that the crew had recently complained about problems with one of the two engines on the plane that crashed, but there was no official confirmation.
Possible threats to civil aviation from conflict on the ground is of particular interest in Russia because rebels it backs in eastern Ukraine have been accused of using a surface-to-air missile last year to bring down a Malaysia Airlines flight, killing all aboard.Possible threats to civil aviation from conflict on the ground is of particular interest in Russia because rebels it backs in eastern Ukraine have been accused of using a surface-to-air missile last year to bring down a Malaysia Airlines flight, killing all aboard.
Russia denies any link to the catastrophe and blames the Ukrainian government for the downing. A recent report by the Dutch government said the plane was destroyed by a missile apparently fired from territory controlled by the rebels, but it also faulted Kiev for not closing its airspace.Russia denies any link to the catastrophe and blames the Ukrainian government for the downing. A recent report by the Dutch government said the plane was destroyed by a missile apparently fired from territory controlled by the rebels, but it also faulted Kiev for not closing its airspace.
The sharp drop in the value of the ruble and tensions with the West over the past year have sharply diminished the number of Russians traveling abroad.The sharp drop in the value of the ruble and tensions with the West over the past year have sharply diminished the number of Russians traveling abroad.
Yet Egypt remained the No. 1 tourist destination for Russians leaving the country in first six months of 2015, with more than one million Russians vacationing there, according to the Russian Federal agency for tourism. A basic package tour including a flight, hotel and meals can be had for as little as $500 or $600 for a week.Yet Egypt remained the No. 1 tourist destination for Russians leaving the country in first six months of 2015, with more than one million Russians vacationing there, according to the Russian Federal agency for tourism. A basic package tour including a flight, hotel and meals can be had for as little as $500 or $600 for a week.
Apart from coastal resorts in the south, much of the Sinai Peninsula is a closed military zone and the location of a long-running insurgency by jihadist groups against the government of Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
In the claim of responsibility, which the SITE Intelligence Group said was issued by the Sinai Province of the Islamic State, the terrorist indicated that the plane was shot down in retaliation for Russia’s military actions in Syria.
“Soldiers of the Caliphate were able to down a Russian airplane over Sinai province,” the statement said. “It was carrying on board more than 220 Russian crusaders. “O Russians and whoever is allied with you, know that you neither have safety in the lands of Muslims nor in the air, and that killing dozens everyday” in Syria “by the bombardment of your aircraft will bring calamity on you.”
It is unclear what weapon systems the Sinai branch of Islamic States possesses. French officials and weapons manuals recovered in Mali confirmed in 2013 that Al Qaeda’s branch in North Africa possessed the SA-7a and SA-7b surface-to-air missile, which is capable of shooting down a commercial plane during takeoff and landing, but it does not have the range to hit an aircraft at high altitude.
Members of Al Qaeda’s branch in Africa have defected to the Islamic State, but it is unclear if they brought with them coveted weapons, which Al Qaeda is believed to have bought from the stockpiles left behind in Libya after the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
In 2004, Chechen militants brought down two passenger jets in one night, using female passengers who were believed to have set off grenades on board. There was some speculation about that tactic in this case, although no indication of a midair explosion.