A Russian passenger jet operated by Kolavia/Metrojet has crashed shortly after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh International airport in ...
A Russian passenger jet operated by Kolavia/Metrojet has crashed shortly after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh International airport in Egypt.
The Flight 7K9268, carrying more than 200 passengers have crashed in Egyptian Sinai peninsula.
Egyptian search and rescue teams has located the crash site in the mountainous Hassana area, south of Arish, Sinai, the civilian aviation ministry said on Saturday.
The aircraft has been completely destroyed and all the passengers is feared dead, according to Egyptian officials quoted by Reuters. The rescue operations has been difficult due to the treacherous terrain.
The Airbus A321-231 single aisle jet, with registration no EI-ETJ, was operating a charted flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg in Russia.
Kolavia, which also operates as Metrojet, is an airline based in Kogalym, Tyumen, Russia. It operates mostly international charter services to leisure destinations. Operations started in May 1993.
The 18 year old aircraft build in 1997 and was powered by two IAE-V2533-A5 engines.
The flight tracking website Flightradar 24, says it lost signal of the aircraft 23 minutes after departure from the airport, and the aircraft was descending at the rate of 6000 ft per minute when the signal was lost.
There is also unconfirmed reports that the Captain has requested diversion to Cairo, after experiencing mechanical problem.
The plane was at an altitude of 31,000 feet when it vanished from radar screens, the Egyptian civil aviaition ministry said in a statement.
Flight #7K9268 was descending with about 6000 feet per minute just before signal was lost
https://t.co/RlcJTpDHwI pic.twitter.com/T4Wq78bhyi
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) October 31, 2015
