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Metrojet ordered to suspend all flights after Egypt air crash Russian plane 'broke up in air' before Sinai crash
(about 2 hours later)
Metrojet has been ordered to to suspend all of its flights after the crash of one of its charter jets in the Sinai desert killed all 224 people on board. A Russian airliner that crashed in Egypt, killing all 224 people on board, broke up in the air, a Russian aviation official said on Sunday.
Rostransnadzor, Russia’s transport safety watchdog, issued its order on Sunday, 24 hours after the crash, requiring the airline to ground its fleet of Airbus A321s until the cause of the disaster has been established. Viktor Sorochenko, an official with the Intergovernmental Aviation Committee, speaking after inspecting the crash site on the Sinai peninsula, added that it was too early to talk about conclusions from the crash, Russian news agencies reported.
The country’s emergencies ministry said it had sent more than 100 workers to Egypt to help recover bodies and examine evidence. Staff from the Fr ench accident investigation agency (BEA) are also en route. BEA is involved because the Airbus A321-200 was designed in France. A militant group affiliated to Islamic State in Egypt has claimed responsibility for bringing down the Kogalymavia Airbus A321 on Saturday “in response to Russian airstrikes that killed hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land”. However, the Egyptian prime minister has disputed the claim, suggesting militants in northern Sinai, where the country is fighting an Islamic insurgency, did not have the weaponry to hit a flight at 9,000 metres (31,000ft).The Russian transport minister had also previously expressed scepticism about the militants’ claim.
The agency said its team would be joined by two investigators from its German counterpart, the BFU, because the aircraft was manufactured in Germany; and four from its Russian counterpart, the MAK, because the plane was operated by a Russian company. Russia, an ally of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, launched airstrikes against opposition groups in Syria, including Isis, on 30 September. The fact that the airliner broke up in the air, does not necessarily indicate a bomb was responsible.
They will join emergency services and aviation specialists already at the crash site, which is spread over more than 15 square kilometres (5.8 square miles). Russia’s emergencies ministry has sent more than 100 workers to Egypt to help recover bodies and examine evidence. Staff from the Fr ench accident investigation agency (BEA) were also on the way. The BEA is involved because the Airbus A321-200 was designed in France.
At least 163 bodies have already been recovered and transported to various hospitals, including the Zeinhom morgue in Cairo, according to a cabinet statement. With the exception of four Ukrainians and one person from Belarus, all of the victims were Russian. The agency said its team would be joined by two investigators from its German counterpart, the BFU, because the aircraft was manufactured in Germany, and four from its Russian counterpart, the MAK, because the plane was operated by a Russian company.
Russia’s emergencies minister, Vladimir Puchkov, said in a televised statement that 120 bodies had been examined and were being prepared to be flown home. They are expected to begin arriving in St Petersburg late on Sunday or early on Monday. They will join emergency services and aviation specialists already at the crash site, which is spread over more than 5.8 sq miles.
Puchkov has been inspecting the crash site with the Russian transport minister, Maxim Sokolov, and the head of the state civil aviation agency, Alexander Neradko. They will also be shown the plane’s data and cockpit voice recorders. Authorities have recovered at least one of the the aircraft’s black boxes, its flight data recorder. At least 163 bodies have already been recovered and transported to various hospitals and morgues, including the Zeinhom morgue in Cairo, according to a cabinet statement. With the exception of four Ukrainians and one person from Belarus, all of the victims were Russian.
The Russian emergencies ministry also said the Egyptian military would accompany its workers through northern Sinai, where Egypt is fighting an Islamic insurgency. Russia’s emergencies minister, Vladimir Puchkov, said in a televised statement that 120 bodies had been examined and were being prepared to be flown home. They were expected to begin arriving in St Petersburg late on Sunday or early on Monday.
A militant group affiliated to Islamic State in Egypt said in a statement that it had brought down the plane “in response to Russian airstrikes that killed hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land”. Sokolov, however, told Russia’s Interfax news agency that the claim “could not be considered accurate”. Russia’s transport safety watchdog, Rostransnadzor, said it had ordered the Kogalymavia airline, which is also known as Metrojet, to ground its fleet of Airbus A321s until the cause of the disaster had been established, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
Russia, an ally of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, launched airstrikes against opposition groups in Syria including Islamic State on 30 September. But an official from Kogalymavia said it would take its Airbus A321 planes out of active use one by one for safety checks. Oksana Golovina at THC Holding, which owns Kogalymavia, told Reuters that its flight schedule would not be affected and that the airline was discussing the timing of the safety checks with Russian transport authorities.
The Egyptian prime minister, Sharif Ismail, however, said experts did not believe the militants in the area had weaponry capable of hitting a plane at 31,000 feet, the altitude the Metrojet flight had reached before it crashed, 23 minutes after takeoff from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. An Egyptian ground service official who examined the plane before takeoff said it appeared to be in good condition. “Everything checked out in 35 minutes,” he told Associated Press.
An Egyptian ground service official who examined the plane before takeoff said it appeared to be in good condition. “Everything checked out in 35 minutes,” he told the Associated Press.
A Russian TV channel, however, quoted Natalya Trukhacheva, identified as the wife of co-pilot Sergei Trukhachev, as saying he had complained before the flight “that the technical condition of the aircraft left much to be desired”.A Russian TV channel, however, quoted Natalya Trukhacheva, identified as the wife of co-pilot Sergei Trukhachev, as saying he had complained before the flight “that the technical condition of the aircraft left much to be desired”.
The Airbus A321 is a medium-haul jet that has been in service since 1994. There are more than 1,100 in operation worldwide and it has a good safety record.. Local media reported that the A321 had flown 16 times in the week before the tragedy and had suffered one previous accident, when the tail struck the runway on landing in Cairo in 2001, after which it underwent extensive repairs.
Airbus said the aircraft that crashed on Saturday had been built in 1997, and that Metrojet had operated it since 2012. It had flown 56,000 hours in nearly 21,000 flights. It was built in 1997, reportedly making it one of the oldest A321s in service anywhere, and had previously been operated by Libyan company Middle East Airlines, Turkish company Onur Air, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Syrian company Cham Wings Airlines. It had flown 56,000 hours in nearly 21,000 flights.
The aircraft took off at 5:51 a.m. Cairo time (0315 GMT) and disappeared from radar screens 23 minutes later, Egypt’s civil aviation ministry said in a statement. Kogalymavia failed a safety inspection in 2014 but reportedly rectified the violations, and its planes had not been involved in large crashes before. A Kogalymavia Tu-154 caught fire on the runway in Surgut on 1 January 2011, however, killing three and injuring 44.
According to FlightRadar24, an authoritative flight tracking service based in Sweden, it descended rapidly at about 6,000 feet (1,800 metres) a minute. The Airbus A321 is a medium-haul jet that has been in service since 1994. There are more than 1,100 in operation worldwide and it has a good safety record.
The aircraft took off at 5.51 am Cairo time (0315 GMT) and disappeared from radar screens 23 minutes later, Egypt’s civil aviation ministry said in a statement.
According to FlightRadar24, an authoritative flight tracking service based in Sweden, it descended rapidly at about 1,800 metres a minute.