UPDATE: 10:40 A.M. EDT:
The Russian embassy has confirmed on its Twitter account that there were no survivors from the crash of the Russian aircraft in the Sinai Peninsula, according to the Associated Press.
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UPDATE: 5:25 A.M. EDT:
A statement from the cabinet says that Egyptian military planes have located the plane's wreckage in a mountainous area, and about 45 ambulances have been dispatched to remove the casualties and treat potential survivors, according to Agence France-Presse.
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A Russian plane carrying more than 200 passengers and cabin crew members has crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, the Egyptian prime minister has confirmed.
Prime Minister Sherif Ismail has already established a cabinet level crisis committee to deal with the crash, a statement from the office of the prime minister said, according to Reuters.
It was reported earlier that the Kolavia Flight 7K9268, an Airbus A320, went off the radar 23 minutes after taking off from the Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport, Sergey Izvolskiy said while referring to initial data.
He added that the plane carried a total of 217 passengers and seven cabin crew members on board. The plane was making its way to St. Petersburg from Sharm El-Sheikh, a resort in Egypt, according to RT.
Earlier in the day, an Egyptian official with the Incident's Committee of the government told local news reporters that the plane had lost contact for a short time and that it was already inside Turkey's airspace, according to the Associated Press.
