Egypt – Russia’s Emergencies Ministry says it has sent more than 100 emergency workers to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula to help search for bodies and examine debris following the crash of a Russian passenger jet.
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Metrojet’s A321-200 crashed Saturday in the Sinai Peninsula 23 minutes after it took off from Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board.
The Emergencies Ministry said Sunday its emergency teams were being accompanied by the Egyptian military through the restive northern Sinai, where Egypt is fighting an Islamic insurgency.
Russian officials say the rescue teams need to comb 16 square kilometers (over 6 square miles) to search for victims’ bodies and plane wreckage.
Photos from the site, 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of the city of el-Arish, have shown heaps of smoldering debris dotting the barren terrain, including the plane’s badly damaged sky blue tail. The Airbus A321-200 charter jet crashed Saturday, killing all 224 aboard, mostly Russians.
Spokeswoman Zhanna Terekhova says Sunday that Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov and Alexander Neradko, the head of the state civil aviation agency, will also be shown the plane’s data and cockpit voice recorders.
An Egyptian official who inspected the plane says it was in good technical condition before it crashed 23 minutes after taking off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Unfortunately for them, Russia has the worst record for air crashes and their planes are outdated and under maintained. In fact, Russian vehicles and air craft have the worst safety records due to shoddy manufacturing, alcoholism on the line, few inspections and endemic corruption.
Plane was 18 years old and maintained at a Moscow airport. Reports have said that plane had a tail accident a few years ago, which if not properly fixed could be the cause of the mid-air breakup. Or a bomb planted at the plane’s point of origin.