Russia Evacuates 11,000 Tourists From Egypt

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Stranded British tourists were evacuated from Sharm el-Sheikh
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

Russia airlifted 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 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]

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Write to Mark Rivett-Carnac at mark.rivett-carnac@timeasia.com