Egyptian Prime Minister Sharif Ismail has confirmed the crash of a Russian passenger plane with 224 people aboard, less than a half hour after the plane took off from the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Egyptian officials say the Airbus A-321, Kogalymavia Flight 9268, was a chartered aircraft carrying 217 passengers, including 17 children, along with seven crew members. The crash site has been spotted and a rescue operation is under way. It is not clear if there were any survivors.
The prime minister's office says he has scheduled an emergency meeting with government and security officials, while the Russian Foreign Ministry says on its Facebook page that it is monitoring the situation.
The plane was en route to the Russian city of St. Petersburg. The plane took off at 5:51 a.m. local time (03:51 UTC) and is reported to have lost contact with air traffic control less than a half hour later. Some unconfirmed reports say the pilot radioed some type of trouble with the aircraft.
The cause of the crash is not known, but authorities have said it was not shot down.
State-run Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reports that at least 15 ambulances are heading toward Sinai's Al-Hasana City, and an "emergency status" has been declared.
Source - VOA
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