Russian tourist jet crashes over Egypt

(Vatican Radio) A Russian passenger jet with 217 passengers and seven crew members has crashed in Egypt, killing all on board.

Listen to Nathan Morley's report: 

The tourist flight was flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg and lost contact with air traffic control about 25 minutes after take-off.

“Initially what happened was, according to our data was the plane began to slow, it made a decrease in altitude and also increased its vertical speed downward and then made an increase in vertical speed – basically pulling back up,” Ian Petchenik from flight tracking service Flight Radar 24 told Vatican Radio. “And then it proceeded to decrease in altitude until we lost contact,” Petchenik added.

An investigation into the crash has been launched by both Russian and Egyptian authorities. Emergency workers who reached the crash site say the jetliner broke in two and was scattered over rocky terrain.

The aircraft was 18 years old and had been operated by Metrojet since 2012. Egyptian officials said that of the 217 passengers on board, 138 were women, 62 men and 17 were children.

Russia will observe a national day of mourning on Sunday for victims of the crash.