Egypt Plane CrashBritish attempts to return tourists from mired in confusion
In his first public comments on the disaster, U.S. President Barack
Obama said in a radio interview: "There's a possibility that there was a
bomb on board. And we're taking that very seriously."
British attempts to bring home thousands of tourists stranded in the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh were thrown into chaos on Friday when Egypt slashed the number of flights it would allow to take them home.
Prime Minister David Cameron halted flights between Britain
and the resort over concerns that a Russian airliner that crashed after
leaving the same airport on Saturday may have been brought down by a
bomb planted by Islamic State militants.
Britain,
which has about 20,000 of its tourists in Sharm al-Sheikh, was planning
to return some of them from the resort on Friday, with only hand
luggage, due to security concerns.
Those plans
were thrown into confusion when Egypt said only eight of the planned 29
flights to take the Britons home would be able to operate. Britain's
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin had earlier said "well over 20 flights" were scheduled.
Egypt's
Minister of Civil Aviation Hossam Kamal said the operation to bring
large numbers of British holidaymakers from their hotels to the airport
and then put them on flights without their luggage was "a huge burden on the airport because its capacity does not allow for that".
"We have asked them to organise eight flights only, and one plane will transport luggage," Kamal said.
He said the airport did not have room to store the more than 120 tonnes of luggage that departing passengers would leave behind.
A
spokesman for Cameron said Britain was trying to get the holidaymakers
home quickly and safely, but described the situation as "difficult and
fluid".
"We have to be realistic that this is a
complex and difficult operation. We are working closely with the
airline companies, with the Egyptian authorities, to ensure that we get
British nationals out safely," he said.
British Ambassador to Egypt John Casson said flights had begun departing.
"Flights are coming in which will allow us to take more people home today," Casson said in Sharm al-Sheikh as he tried to reassure exasperated tourists at the airport.
Thomas
Cook Airlines, easyJet, privately-held Monarch, British Airways and
Thomson operate direct flights between Britain and Sharm al-Sheikh.
EasyJet
said it had been refused permission to fly most of its empty planes to
Egypt, and that just two of its 10 planned flights had been given
permission to fly out of Egypt.
The other airlines said they were expecting their planned flights to go ahead.
Britain's
public airing of its concerns about a bomb being responsible for the
Russian air crash has angered Egypt, which depends on tourism revenue,
and drew criticism from the Kremlin, which said it had not been given
details of the intelligence behind Britain's move.
A
Sinai-based group affiliated with Islamic State, the militants who have
seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, has claimed responsibility for the
crash, which, if confirmed, would make it the jihadist organisation's
first attack on civil aviation.
In his first public comments on the disaster, U.S. President Barack Obama said in a radio interview: "There's a possibility that there was a bomb on board. And we're taking that very seriously."
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