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Bodies of 53 victims of Russian plane crash in Egypt identified

Rzhanenkov said that first funerals would take place on Friday, November 6

ST PETERSBURG, November 4. /TASS/. Bodies of 53 people killed when a Russian A321 plane flying from Sharm El-Sheikh to St. Petersburg came down in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, an official in charge of St. Petersburg’s social policy told reporters on Wednesday.

"As of today, 53 bodies have been identified," Aleksandr Rzhanenkov said. "Tomorrow, there will be a definite number but the others are still unidentified. So an indefinite phase of expectation has started and this is about waiting for results of genetic tests."

Rzhanenkov said that first funerals would take place on Friday, November 6.

Earlier, reports were coming that the first victim would be buried in the city of Novgorod on Thursday.

On Saturday morning, Kogalymavia airline’s Flight 9268 carrying Russian tourists home from the resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh crashed about 30 minutes after take-off. The wreckage of the Airbus A321 plane was spotted 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 board, no-one survived. Most of them were Russian nationals. Also, four Ukrainians and one Belarusian were on board.