Russian jetliner wreckage found on Egypt's Sinai: reports

Wreckage of the Russian jetliner was found on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, RIA Novosti news agency reported Saturday. Egyptian security forces cordoned off the crash site, while some 20 cars rushed out from the Arish city of North Sinai province to rescue victims, RIA Novosti quoted Egypt's Youm7 news website as saying. An Airbus 320 aircraft en route from Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh resort city in South Sinai to Russia's St. Petersburg vanished from the radars on Saturday, with over 200 people aboard, Youm7 quoted the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation. The airplane took off at 05:51 local time on Saturday morning and disappeared from radar 23 minutes afterwards, the ministry added. According to RIA Novosti, captain of the airliner informed air traffic controller of technical faults after takeoff, asking for route change and emergent landing in Cairo, Egypt's capital. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russian Embassy in Egypt is checking information and current situations about the airliner which belongs to Russia's Metrojet airline. Metrojet is an airline based in Kogalym, a town in Russia's western Siberia, that started operations from May of 1993.