(REUTERS/Stringer)
Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail (2nd L) and Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou look at the remains of a Russian airliner which crashed in central Sinai near El Arish city, north Egypt, October 31, 2015.
Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, declared a national day of mourning Saturday after officials confirmed a plane bound for St. Petersburg, Russia and carrying 224 passengers had crashed in Egypt early that morning.
The crash killed everyone on board after falling quickly from its cruising altitude of 31,000 feet roughly 25 minutes after taking off.
The flight, Kogalymavia 9268, crashed in a mountainous region in central Sinai after disappearing from radar screens around 6:20 a.m., according to The New York Times.
The pilot had radioed that he needed to make an emergency landing because of technical problems, according to The Times.
(Screenshot/Google Maps)
Recently, there's been an insurgency involving the Islamic State in the Sinai Peninsula where the plane crashed, and a branch of the group said Saturday it was behind the crash.
However, The New York Times noted that there's no evidence that the Islamic State had the ability to take down a plane that was already at its cruising altitude.
Moreover, a security source in Sinai told Reuters that a "technical fault" caused the crash, and that the plane had landed "in a vertical fashion" — causing an unusual amount of burning.
"I now see a tragic scene," an Egyptian security officer on the ground told Reuters. "A lot of dead on the ground and many who died whilst strapped to their seats."
"The plane split into two, a small part on the tail end that burned and a larger part that crashed into a rock. We have extracted at least 100 bodies and the rest are still inside," the officer, who requested anonymity, said.
(REUTERS/Peter Kovalev)
A woman reacts at Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg, Russia, October 31, 2015
The plane was carrying 214 Russian passengers and three Ukrainians. There were 138 women on board, 17 children, and 68 men.
They were flying from the Sinai Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and many were reportedly returning from vacation.
Russia's top investigative committee has already begun a criminal investigation into Kogalymavia, the airline that operated the flight under the name Metrojet, Reuters reported.
The airline said Saturday there was no evidence human error caused the crash, and that the pilot had 12,000 hours of flying experience.
The plane had also been fully serviced, the airline said, according to Reuters.
Airbus, which made the plane, said Saturday the plane was an 18-year-old A321-200 that Metrojet had operated since 2012, according to Reuters.