Stranded British tourists anxious to leave Egyptian resort

But on Friday, the head of Russian intelligence, Alexander Bortnikov, recommended a suspension of all flights to Egypt “until we determine the real reasons of what happened”, and President Vladimir Putin quickly agreed.

Koenders added that he cannot say how serious the investigation into the cause of the crash is, but stressed that an investigation must be done.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said it is “more likely than not” that the plane was downed by a terrorist bomb.

The development comes one day after President Obama said “there is a possibility that there was a bomb on board” the Russian Airbus that crashed in the Sinai Peninsula last weekend.

“The search mission in the crash area continued”, the ministry said.

Standing in a crush of hundreds waiting to pass through security, Johnson said she didn’t feel that British authorities have adequately supported the stranded tourists.

Meanwhile the BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner said the British security services suspected that someone with access to the plane’s baggage compartment planted an explosive device there shortly before the jet took off. a few evacuation flights from Sharm el-Sheikh to Britain were due to resume on Friday, with airlines laying on extra planes to get stranded travellers home, but passengers would only be allowed to fly with hand luggage due to a British government request.

In the morning, Egyptians carried out expanded security checks as dozens of buses ferrying British and Russian tourists waited outside the airport, the line stretching up to a kilometer (half mile) as police inspected each vehicle. Additional security measures are in place for flights travelling to particular destinations, notably London, at the request of those authorities, airport security sources said.

Though Egyptians made light of these incidents with their typically caustic humour, they underscored the widely-held view that standards are low and the potential for corruption high in poorly-paid public sector jobs including travel security.

He said the British airlines are flying without passengers’ luggage, while Sharm el-Sheikh airport’s storage can hold no more than 120 tons of luggage left behind.

Another British airline, Monarch, has canceled all Sharm el-Sheikh flights through next Thursday.

KLM, which has no direct flights to Sharm el-Sheikh, did not elaborate on the unusual measure.

“So far, we have heard nothing (like this) from the investigation”.

“We are closely monitoring the situation in Egypt though our embassy in Cairo”.

Minister Bert Koenders told reporters Friday in The Hague: “We have the impression that there are insufficient security measures there”.

Asked if he thought Islamic State was responsible, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: “ISIL-Sinai have claimed responsibility for bringing down the Russian aircraft, they did that straight away after the crash”. The rest refused to leave without taking their check-in bags, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Islamic State has called for war against both Russian Federation and the United States in response to their air strikes in Syria.

Dutch travel companies are preparing to repatriate tourists vacationing at the Egyptian Red Sea resort, the takeoff point for a Metrojet plane that crashed into the Sinai desert on October 31. All 224 people aboard were killed, and US and British officials fear a bomb might have blown up the plane in midair.