Expanding search area for crashed Russian plane

On November 1, Egyptian rescue forces expanded the search area for victims of the Airbus A321 flight number KGL -9268 of Russian airline Kogalymavia that crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula after discovering many bodies scattered near the scene.

Debris of the Russian Airbus-321 at the crash site in Hassana, Egypt on October 31. Photo: THX/ VNA

As of now, the bodies of 163 out of 224 victims on board the flight have been found.

Egyptian rescue workers have decided to expand the search to a 15km radius after finding body parts several kilometres away from the crash site. Many of the bodies found are now damaged.

Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said a technical fault could have caused the crash, while rejecting claims by Islamic State (IS) militants that they were behind it.

However, three airlines Emirates, Air France and Lufthansa have decided to suspend flights over the Sinai Peninsula until more information is available. Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal also stated that there were no signs of any problems on the plane, contrary to previous information that the pilot requested an emergency landing.

The Airbus A-321 operated by Kogalymavia Airlines crashed on October 31, just tens of minutes after taking off from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to the Russian city of St Petersburg. Among the 224 victims killed on the Airbus A-321 that crashed, there were 25 children and 7 crew members.

Meanwhile, according to Russian media, after arriving in the Egyptian capital Cairo, a Russian delegation led by Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov arrived at the scene of the plane crash. Accompanying Mr. Sokolov were Minister of Emergency Situations Vladimir Puchkov and head of the Russian Federal Aviation Agency (Rosaviatsia) Aleksandr Neradko.

Mr. Puchkov will directly direct the Russian search and rescue operation in the above plane crash. Currently, Russian and French investigators are in the process of analyzing the plane's black box data to clarify the cause of this new aviation tragedy.

According to Baotintuc.vn