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Russian cargo plane leaves Egypt carrying tourists’ luggage to Moscow

MOSCOW, November 7. /TASS/. The first plane of the Russian Emergencies Ministry took off from airport in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh, carrying Russian tourists’ luggage to Moscow, the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s press service told TASS.

"A cargo plane of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations took off from Sharm El Sheikh’s airport at 9.28 p.m. Moscow Time [6.28 p.m. GMT], carrying luggage of the Russian nationals who had left Egypt without it," the spokesperson said noting the luggage weighed a total of 30 tonnes and was comprised of 1,100 suitcases and bags of around 25 kilos each.

"The luggage has been collected from several flights that left Sharm El Sheikh earlier," he said.

Earlier in the day, the ministry’s press service said that the luggage would be delivered to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport for residents of Moscow and the Moscow regions and for the passengers waiting there. For other travellers, Russian air carriers will deliver their luggage to home towns on regular flights.

Currently, the Russian tourists are leaving the Egyptian resort without luggage, just with hand-carried items.

On Friday, November 6, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin supported recommendations of the national anti-terror committee to suspend flights to Egypt. The presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov explained the flights will be suspended not to end of investigation into crash of Kogalymavia’s plane, but until necessary security is provided. Putin ordered organisation of support to Russian nationals’ return home from Egypt.

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

About 80,000 Russians are staying in Egypt, mostly in Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh.

On October 31, Kogalymavia airline’s Flight 9268 carrying Russian tourists home from the resort city of Sharm El Sheikh crashed about 20 minutes after take-off. The wreckage of the Airbus A321 plane was recovered in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, some 100 kilometres south of the city of El-Arish.

There were 217 passengers and seven crew members on the plane, no-one survived. Most of them were Russian nationals. Also, four Ukrainians and one Belarusian were on board.