Egypt checking airport cameras for any activity related to crash – security

He added that Russian Federation was sending a number of experts to inspect Egypt’s airports to see if security needed to be beefed up there.

Mrs Cotterill described Sharm el-Sheikh airport’s security as “hit and miss”.

“What happened in Sharm al-Sheikh last week, and to a lesser extent with the…”

From 10p.m. Moscow time on Friday, all regular, transit and chartered flights from Russian Federation to Egypt, carrying passengers, were suspended.

“Maybe it’s a lithium battery, maybe it’s an explosion, maybe it’s… a mechanical issue”, he said the possible cause of the crash.

Islamic State extremists have claimed that they brought down the Russian Metrojet flight, though they did not offer any proof. Another three planes from Birmingham and Manchester are at the smaller Paphos airport, diverted there because they were unable to land directly at the Egyptian Red Sea resort.

Johnson said authorities are evaluating whether additional measures were necessary. Emirates does not operate regular flights to Sharm al-Sheikh. But not long after takeoff, it disintegrated midair and crashed in the Sinai Peninsula. All 224 people onboard were killed.

One of the officials, involved in security for planes, also pointed to bribe-taking by poorly paid policemen monitoring X-ray machines.

One of the officials said the breakdowns in the 10-year-old CTX scanner were because operators didn’t use it properly – “human stupidity”, he said – rather than technical faults.

A backlog of about 4,000 British vacationers who had been due to travel home Wednesday and Thursday remain stranded at the resort, according to the Association of British Travel Agents.

The Emergencies Ministry said 55 flights were planned between late Saturday and late Sunday.

Russian tourists in Egypt are gathering at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport seeking a way home. Russians comprise almost a third of all tourists who visited Egypt in the past year. Those tourists can only bring hand luggage aboard.

Over 100 Russian passengers were left behind in Sharm el-Sheikh early Saturday because they didn’t want to leave their luggage in Egypt.

The developments have caused anger in Egypt with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry criticising Western countries for failing to share intelligence.

“If this turns out to be a device planted by an ISIL operative or by somebody inspired by ISIL, then clearly we will have to look again at the level of security we expect to see in airports in areas where ISIL is active”, Hammond told the BBC.

The growing belief was indicated by several senior USA officials in the intelligence, military and national security community who spoke to CNN.

Lee Doddridge explained that the “weak point” in the airport security is people, not equipment.

The deputy prime minister said Egypt’s military are controlling check-in procedures at the airports. The key is what happened just before the data suddenly stops, he said.

He says Egypt’s past calls for cooperation and coordination from “the countries that are now facing the danger” had not been dealt with seriously.

The Islamic State group’s branch in the Sinai has claimed responsibility, but Egyptian officials insist there is no evidence yet of an attack on the plane.

Another official told CNN on Saturday: “We believe it was likely brought down by a bomb”.

Mourners have packed into the landmark St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg for a memorial service for victims of the Russian plane crash.

But western officials sound more and more convinced of a bomb.

Denmark, Norway and Finland have joined several countries in telling their citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Egypt’s resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. Finland made a similar recommendation.

“The committee urges the sources of such reports to provide it with all information that could help us to undertake our mission”. USA and British officials think the plane may have been blown up by a bomb.

Russians flying out of Egypt are allowed to take only cabin baggage. But these flights have banned the passengers from checking in any luggage _ reflecting an apparent concern about security and luggage-screening procedures at the airport. “That’s where the opportunity arises to place something in the hold area”.

Russia, which initially played down suggestions that the crash was caused by terrorists, is using its own cargo planes, while the United Kingdom is using Egypt Air cargo planes, according to Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry. British authorities concluded it was not a “targeted attack”.

USA officials said they had intercepted boastful exchanges between Islamic State militants, celebrating the tragedy.