A Kogalymavia Airbus A-32 plane with 224 people on board crash in central Sinai, the office of Egypt's prime minister confirmed on Saturday.
The 18-year-old Russian jet left Sharm el-Sheik, a resort in the Red Sea area, and was bound for St. Petersburg in Russia when the aircraft lost communications with flight officials. According to Flight Radar 24, an air traffic monitoring website, the ill-fated aircraft was descending at about 6,000 feet per minute when it lost contact with the control tower.
Rosaviatsiya, the aviation authority of Russia, said that Flight 9268 left the Egyptian airport at 6:51 Moscow time and was scheduled to arrive at the Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg at 12:10. It lost contact with the air traffic control tower of Cyprus just 23 minutes after take-off and it disappeared from the radar.
While there was a Reuters report that the jet is safe in Turkish airspace based on the statement of an Egyptian official, other reports said the plane crashed.
Majority of the travelers are Russian tourists, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
Following the confirmation, Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail formed a cabinet-level crisis committee tasked with dealing with the air tragedy.
CNN reports that with the confirmation of the crash, the Northern Sinai medical department deployed over 20 ambulances to the crash site as part of its declaration of a state of emergency. The crash site is between the villages of Al-Kuntilah and Al-Kaseema in central Sinai.