Egypt Recovers Black Box of Crashed Russian Plane That Killed 224 in Sinai

Egypt has recovered the black box of a Russian airliner that crashed Saturday in the restive Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board, the prime minister's office said.

"The black box was recovered from the tail of the plane and has been sent to be analysed by experts," the office of Prime Minister Sharif Ismail said, adding that rescuers had recovered 129 bodies from the site of the crash.

 A Russian charter plane carrying 224 people crashed in a mountainous part of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula Saturday, killing everyone on board, officials said.

Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov said the IS claim "cannot be considered accurate", adding that authorities in Egypt "have no such information that would confirm such insinuations," Russian news agencies reported.The Islamic State (IS) group affiliate in Egypt claimed it downed the plane, without saying how, but an Egyptian security official said the plane did not crash because of an attack.

The Airbus A321 with 214 Russian and three Ukranian passengers and seven crew, had taken off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in south Sinai bound for Saint Petersburg.

It lost contact with air traffic control 23 minutes later.

Egyptian security and medical officials said there were no survivors, and that bodies and debris were spread over around five square kilometres (two square miles).

The Russian embassy in Cairo said: "Unfortunately, all passengers of Kogalymavia flight 9268 Sharm el-Sheikh-Saint Petersburg have died. We issue condolences to family and friends."

The last major air crash in Egypt was in 2004, when a Flash Airlines Boeing 737 plunged into the Red Sea after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh.

All 148 people on board, most of whom were French, died.

Millions of tourists, many of them Russian, visit the resort, one of Egypt's major attractions for its pristine beaches and scuba diving.

It and other resorts dotting the Red Sea coast are heavily secured by the military and police, as an Islamist militant insurgency rages in north Sinai bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Militants in the north who pledged allegiance to IS have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

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