MOSCOW (AP) — The latest on the crash of a Russian plane in Egypt that killed all 224 people onboard. (All times local.)
1:30 p.m.
The Mideast’s biggest airline says it is reviewing security procedures in Egypt but remains committed to flying there as suspicions grow that a bomb brought down a Russian airliner in the Sinai Peninsula.
Emirates airline President Tim Clark told reporters Sunday at the start of the Dubai Airshow that Egypt is “an enormously important market” to the carrier and that it is important that it maintains its operations there.
He says Dubai-based Emirates is reviewing its procedures relating to security, ground handling and access to aircraft while they are on the ground in Egypt.
Emirates operates two daily roundtrip flights linking Cairo with Dubai, the Middle East’s commercial hub. It does not fly to Sharm el-Sheikh, the departure airport for the doomed Russian airliner.
12 p.m.
A deputy Russian prime minister says the first of three teams of Russian inspectors has been dispatched to Egypt to examine security conditions at airports there.
Arkady Dvorkovich’s announcement Sunday follows Russia’s decision Friday to suspend passenger flights to Egypt because of security concerns.
A Russian airliner crashed Oct. 31, killing all 224 people aboard, about 20 minutes after taking off from an Egyptian resort area. The British government and U.S. officials have said intelligence suggests the plane was downed by a bomb, but Egypt says there’s still no confirmation of what caused the crash.
Dvorkovich did not give details of specific issues on which the inspectors might focus.
He said that 11,000 Russians were flown home from Egypt on Saturday and an even larger number were expected to leave Sunday, according to Russian news agencies.
Russians flying out of Egypt are allowed to take only cabin baggage. The Ministry of Defense said Sunday that it has sent two Il-76 cargo planes to Egypt to bring back larger luggage the Russians had to leave behind.
Comment count on this article reflects comments made on Breitbart.com and Facebook. Visit Breitbart's Facebook Page.