Russian airline blames ‘external activity’ for crash over Egypt
The Russian airline Kogalymavia has blamed ‘external activity’ for Saturday’s plane crash over the Sinai area of Egypt, which killed all 224 on board.
One airline official said the only reasonable explanation is that it was due to some kind of impact, while the deputy director of the airline, which operates as Metrojet, ruled out a technical fault and pilot error, reports the BBC.
"The only explicable reason for the plane to have been destroyed in mid-air can be specific impact, purely mechanical, physical influence on the aircraft," deputy director Alexander Smirnov told a news conference in Moscow.
The cause of the crash is yet to be confirmed amid claims from an Islamic militant group that it shot the plane down. This has been disputed by Egypt and Russia.
The plane crashed in central Sinai just minutes after leaving the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
The 217 passengers, including 17 children aged between 2 and 17, as well as seven crew, were all Russian and on their way to St Petersburg.
Several airlines including Emirates, Air Arabia, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa have since decided to re-route flight paths away from the Sinai Peninsular.
But UK airlines claim they do not fly over northern and central Sinai, where the incident happened, and have not for some time.
UK Department of Transport advice from December 2014, which was reissued in September, tells airlines to avoid flying below 25,000 feet over northern Sinai.
An easyJet spokesman said: "As has been the case for some time before yesterday’s incident, easyJet like other UK airlines does not fly over northern and central Sinai, the area of the incident.
"We can confirm that we are currently assessing the situation and taking advice from all the relevant authorities.
"Based on the information received to date, easyJet plans to continue to operate flights to Egypt to carry holidaymakers as planned to and from Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada but will continue to actively review the situation.
"Those passengers who don’t want to fly will be offered an alternative flight or a flight voucher."
British Airways also follows the DfT advice but a BA spokesman said: "We never discuss exact flight routes, however, we would never fly a route unless it was safe to do so."
Monarch said it had been in close contact with the Department for Transport and that flights to Sharm el Shiekh would continue to operate as scheduled.
It said: "Monarch puts the safety of our customers and crew as our first priority."
Metrojet is operated by the airline Kogalymavia, based in western Siberia.
Russia has ordered the grounding of all Kogalymavia airline’s A321 planes following the crash.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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