--- description: Russia laid on a massive airlift to bring its citizens home in response to the Metrojet crash, which many now suspect was caused by a bomb title: Russia Evacuates 11,000 Tourists From Egypt image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8939ccea4fac6cd/6988701be20a8743caa8e180/gettyimages-496016966.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [russia](/tag/russia/) ## russia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Russia Evacuates 11,000 Tourists From Egypt ## Video: TIME Raw: Family Members of Russia Plane Crash Victims Speak [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Raw: Family Members of Russia Plane Crash Victims Speak](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9mF3IWFP.m3u8) (1:24)  _Published 2015-11-01. TIME Raw: Family Members of Russia Plane Crash Victims Speak_ by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 9, 2015 3:39 AM CUT  The evacuation begins of British tourists from Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh Airport on Nov. 6, 2015\. They had been stranded for security reasons since the crash of Metrojet Flight 9268 on Oct. 31 The evacuation begins of British tourists from Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh Airport on Nov. 6, 2015\. They had been stranded for security reasons since the crash of Metrojet Flight 9268 on Oct. 31Anadolu Agency—Getty Images by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 9, 2015 3:39 AM CUT Russia [airlifted](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34759570 "undefined") 11,000 tourists home from Egypt over the weekend, most of them in a 24-hour period, according to the BBC. A stream of special flights evacuated the holidaymakers who were stranded since Moscow suspended all flights from Egypt on Friday, following the Oct. 31 crash of Metrojet Flight 9268 that broke up over the Sinai Peninsula, the BBC reported. All 224 aboard the Airbus A321-200 were killed in the [crash](http://time.com/4095766/russian-plane-broke-high-altitude/ "undefined") just 23 minutes after the plane took off from the Egyptian resort Sharm el-Sheikh on route to St. Petersburg. Most were Russian. The vice chair of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator Dianna Feinstein, said there was a “strong probability” that a bomb took down the jet. The U.K., which cancelled flights last Wednesday, has meanwhile ferried 3,500 tourists home from Egypt. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34759570 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4104396/russia-metrojet-flight-tourist-evacuation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4104396/russia-metrojet-flight-tourist-evacuation/"},"headline":"Russia Evacuates 11,000 Tourists From Egypt","datePublished":"2015-11-09T03:39:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:26:37.616Z","description":"The U.K. has also ferried 3,500 tourists home","url":"https://time.com/4104396/russia-metrojet-flight-tourist-evacuation/","keywords":["russia","flight","Egypt","evacuation"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8939ccea4fac6cd/6988701be20a8743caa8e180/gettyimages-496016966.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mark Rivett-Carnac","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/mark-rivett-carnac/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8939ccea4fac6cd/6988701be20a8743caa8e180/gettyimages-496016966.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Stranded British tourists were evacuated from Sharm el-Sheikh","caption":"Stranded British tourists were evacuated from Sharm el-Sheikh","creditText":"Anadolu Agency—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/russia/","name":"russia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4104396/russia-metrojet-flight-tourist-evacuation/","name":"Russia Evacuates 11,000 Tourists From Egypt"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Family Members of Russia Plane Crash Victims Speak","description":"TIME Raw: Family Members of Russia Plane Crash Victims Speak","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/9mF3IWFP/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-11-01T18:58:56.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9mF3IWFP.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4104396/russia-metrojet-flight-tourist-evacuation/","duration":"PT1M24S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4104396/russia-metrojet-flight-tourist-evacuation/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```