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All crew members of Sinai plane crash identified

"The crew members are all identified," Aleksandr Rzhanenkov said adding relatives had the right to repatriate them for funeral ceremonies

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

"The crew members are all identified," Aleksandr Rzhanenkov said adding relatives had the right to repatriate them for funeral ceremonies.

Earlier on Wednesday, three bodies were released for funeral arrangements.

Along with this, Rzhanenkov said that 53 victims had been identified adding that identification procedures are expected to end on Thursday while genetic tests would take months.

On October 31, 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.