Russia to send 44 planes to Egypt to repatriate nationals

Moscow/Cairo - Egypt crash committee says noise heard in Russian plane flight recording, too soon for conclusion.

Russia will on Saturday send 44 planes to repatriate its nationals from two Egyptian Red Sea resorts, the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency said as suspicions grow that a bomb caused last weekend's plane crash.
Thirty empty planes would be sent to Hurghada, and 14 would be sent to Sharm El-Sheikh where a total of 78,000 Russian tourists are staying, the agency said in a statement.
Noise heard in Russian plane flight recording
A cockpit record from the Russian jet which crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula one week ago registered a noise in the last second of recording, the head of an investigation committee into the crash said on Saturday.
But the committee head, Ayman Al Muqaddam, said experts were still gathering information and it was too soon to announce conclusions of their work. He said the investigators were considering all possible scenarios.
Western governments have said the crash of the Airbus A321, which killed all 224 passengers, may have been caused by a bomb and several countries have suspended flights to the Red Sea resort of Sharm Al Sheikh from where the Russian plane took off.

• MENA