Fox is saying there is intel that a baggage handler at the airport in Egypt may have been involved. Meanwhile, Putin is sounding a little Obama-like in saying ‘that doesn’t mean necessarily it’s terrorism’.
MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin on Friday suspended all flights from Russia to Egypt, the most popular tourist destination for Russians. The move came as several airlines imposed bans on checked luggage over concerns that a bomb in a cargo hold brought down a Russian charter jet in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, killing all 224 people on board.
Mr. Putin signed off on a recommendation by Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service, Russia’s internal state security agency, that the flights be suspended, Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, confirmed to the Interfax news agency. It was not immediately clear when the suspension would begin.
Via Buzzfeed:
The UK government cancelled all flights to and from the popular Egyptian resort after suspicions emerged that the Russian passenger jet crash on the Sinai peninsula on Saturday morning was the result of a terror attack. Foreign secretary Philip Hammond said there was a “significant possibility” that the flight was downed by a bomb planted on the flight by ISIS militants. Prime Minister David Cameron conceded the crash was “more likely than not” caused by a terrorist bomb.
British authorities planned to bring tourists home by Friday, and airlines Easyjet, Monarch, Thomson, and British Airways were expected to run UK-bound flights to collect the estimated 20,000 British tourists stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin told the BBC on Friday morning that luggage would be flown separately after going through a tightened security screening process, and that passengers would only be allowed hand luggage. He said the “vast majority” of British tourists would arrive in the UK by Friday evening, and that additional security has been deployed at the Egyptian airport.