British Airways has said it will continue flying over Egypt's Sinai peninsula after a Russian plane crashed on Saturday, killing all 224 people on board. The company made the announcement after major airlines Emirates, Lufthansa and Air France said they had stopped flying over the area until more was known about the crash. A local affiliate of Islamic State claimed it "brought down" the aircraft, but Russia's transport minister dismissed the statement and there was no independent evidence to support the claim. Following the crash, BA said it had no plans to alter its route to and from the popular Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the origin of the Metrojet flight which crashed 23 minutes after takeoff. A BA spokeswoman said: "The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our top priority, and we would never operate a flight unless it was safe to do so. "Our safety team continually liaises with the appropriate authorities around the world, and we conduct very detailed risk assessments into every route we operate." The cause of Saturday's crash is not yet known. The Russian plane, bound for St Petersburg, went down in a remote mountainous area of Sinai after plummeting from 31,000ft. It is in an area of northern Sinai where Egyptian security forces have for years fought local Islamic militants who in recent months claimed allegiance to Isis. Almost everyone on board the Airbus-A321-200, operated by the Moscow-based Metrojet airline, was Russian. Ukraine said four of its citizens were passengers. Twenty-five children were on board the plane and there were seven crew members.
