Rescuers have so far recovered 100 bodies, including five children, after a Russian plane carrying 217 passengers and 7 crew members on board crashed near Nekhel in the north of Sinai Saturday. There were 17 children aboard the plane. Rescuers found many bodies strapped to the seats. There were no sign of survivors although a security official at the scene said earlier that voices of trapped passengers were heard in sections of the airline which split into two. Rescuers also recovered the plane's black boxes from the crash site. The plane went down in a mountainous area in central Sinai and poor weather made it difficult for rescue crews to get to the scene. Survivors and bodies of those on board will be flown to Cairo, the official said. There are no indications that the Russian Airbus was shot down, Egyptian security sources said. Egypt's North Sinai is home to a two-year-old Islamist insurgency and militants affiliated to Islamic State have killed hundreds of soldiers and police. Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail has canceled all his scheduled visits Saturday and formed a cabinet level crisis committee to deal with the crash. An Egyptian Health Ministry official said 45 ambulances have been sent to central Sinai's Al-Hasana City, adding that an "emergency status" was declared. A source in Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) told RIA Novosti the Metrojet/Kogalymavia Flight 9268 carrying 217 passengers and 7 crew took off from Sharm El-Sheikh at 3.31 GMT and went off radar after 23 minutes of flight. The Russian A321 captain informed air-traffic controller of technical faults after take-off and asked for route change, a source in the Sharm el-Sheikh airport told RIA Novosti. Panel to probe crash Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to form a commission on Kolavia's plane crash in Egypt, the Kremlin press service reported. Putin has expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the victims of the plane crash. He also has ordered Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov to urgently send to Egypt rescue planes to assist at the Kolavia's plane crash site, the Kremlin press service said. Putin has ordered the Emergencies Ministry and Health Ministry to provide assistance to families of the victims in the plane crash. Russia will observe November 1 as a day of mourning for the crash victims.
