My first thoughts when I saw this news? Location? Timing? Suspicious? Payback? NATO hostility at Russian involvement in Syria? US projection of power, real and perceived, seriously challenged? Egypt is a vassal state. NATO/US militancy is the real power. el Sisi is a US trained yes man! Flashback: Egypt: Creating a false paradigm to justify death and destruction
Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi as Defence Minister. Sisi, who has a masters degree from the US Army War College, had scored a meteoric rise since 2008.
Or Egypts New Dictator was Made in the USASinai Peninsula being a virtual military zone.. US/Egyptian/Israeli military in particular. Of course, Canada has a presence. -The Multinational Force of Observers and the Sinai Storm- Minister Baird Visits Multinational Force & Observers North Camp in SinaiSome news reports- with discrepancies already appearingCTV:
A Russian aircraft carrying more than 220 people crashed Saturday in the Sinai Peninsula more than 20 minutes after takeoff from a Red Sea resort popular with Russian tourists, Egypt's Ministry of Civil Aviation said.It is not immediately known whether there are any survivors among the 217 passengers and seven crew members but an Egyptian government spokesman said 50 ambulances were headed to the crash site to offer medical care if needed.Adel Mahgoub, chairman of the state company that runs Egypt's civilian airports, said all passengers and crew were Russian citizens.A ministry statement said Egyptian military search and rescue teams found the wreckage of the passenger jet in the Hassana area south of the city of el-Arish, an area in northern Sinai where Egyptian security forces are fighting a burgeoning Islamic militant insurgency led by a local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group.
It said the plane, believed to be an Airbus model, took off from Sharm el-Sheikh shortly before 6 a.m. for St. Petersburg in Russia and disappeared from radar screens 23 minutes after takeoff. The reported time lapse between takeoff and loss of contact with the aircraft means that the plane was possibly flying at a cruising altitude of some 30,000 feet when it crashed.
Militants in northern Sinai have not to date shot down commercial airliners or fighter-jets. There have been persistent media reports that they have acquired Russian shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft missiles. But these types of missiles can only be effective against low-flying aircraft or helicopters. In January 2014, Sinai-based militants claimed to have shot down a military helicopter; Egyptian officials at the time acknowledged the helicopter had crashed, but gave no reason.
Earlier in the day, an Egyptian official with the government's Aviation Incidents Committee told local media that the plane had briefly lost contact but was now safely in Turkish airspace.
Later, the same official, Ayman al-Muqadem, said the plane has crashed and that the pilot, before losing contact, had radioed that the aircraft was experiencing technical problems and that he intended to try and land at the nearest airport.
I am not a fan of the two narrative presentation. Always highly suggestive someone is 'muddying the waters'... An official reports the Russian plane is safely in Turkish airspace. The same official then reports the plane had crashed after experiencing technical difficulties?So we go from the plane being safely in Turkish airspace to the plane crashing due to technical difficulties? Despite the fact that technical difficulties cannot be confirmed nor substantiated without a whole pile of information- Clearly there is no way this Ayman al Muqadem could have that information.
The aircraft crashed at a site near the el-Arish airport, he said. It was not immediately possible to independently confirm that technical problems caused the plane to crash.
Egyptian officials say there are no survivors from the crash of a Russian airliner in Sinai. The aircraft carrying more than 220 people crashed Saturday in a remote mountainous region in the Sinai Peninsula more than 20 minutes after takeoff from a Red Sea resort popular with Russian tourists, Egypt’s Ministry of Civil Aviation said
According to the IDF, a reconnaissance plane was sent to help the Egyptians locate the airliner after it had lost contact and was missing somewhere over the sprawling Sinai Peninsula. The army spokesperson said the IDF has offered additional aid should Egypt want it.
"Since this morning the IDF assisted with aerial surveillance in the efforts to locate the Russian airplane that lost contact over the Sinai Peninsula. The IDF has offered continued assistance to both Russia and Egypt if required," a military statement said. The Airbus A-321, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia with registration number KGL-9268, was flying from the Sinai Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg in Russia when it went down in a desolate mountainous area of central Sinai soon after daybreak, the aviation ministry said.
More questions then answers, really?Anyone else? Update # 1: Russian airline sees no grounds to blame human error
Russian airline Kogalymavia said on Saturday that it saw no grounds to blame human error for the crash of one of its airliners in Egypt, Russian news agencies reported.
RIA and Interfax news agencies cited an airline spokeswoman saying that the pilot had 12,000 hours flying experience. She also said that the plane had been fully serviced.
Update # 2 : 31 October 2015
13:39 GMT According to Egypt's security forces, as cited by Reuters, a technical fault was to blame for the crash.Search and rescue teams are finding bodies in a radius of up to 5km (3.1 miles) from the crash site. Approximately 150, some burnt, have been pulled out of the wreckage so far.
Crash of Metrojet Flight 7K9268
- 11:11 GMT Egypt's aviation authority is now refuting earlier claims that on-board recording devices were uncovered in the search of the crash site.Reuters, however, says the black boxes were indeed found by the rescue workers, citing security sources at the site.
- 10:55 GMT The black boxes have been uncovered at the scene of the Kolavia A321 crash, Al Jazeera reports, citing sources on the ground.
- 10:41 GMT The Russian Emergencies Ministry held an urgent meeting over the plane crash in Sinai to answer questions.Interesting? Will the western media be outraged that the press access will be difficult?Thinking about MH17 and all the media outrage............... "The Egyptian military told RT access to the crash site may be difficult for the press due to the volatile security situation in the Sinai. Large parts of the peninsula are dangerous due to the presence of militants, with only coastal areas in the north and south adequately guarded by security forces. The crash site is in the Hassana area 35 km south of Arish, the largest city in the Sinai"