Egypt's Ministry of Civil Aviation says it lost contact with a Russian aircraft carrying 217 passengers and 7 crew members over the restive Sinai peninsula, according to Egypt's state-run news agency, APA reported.
The flight took off from Sinai's Sharm el-Sheikh to head to St Petersburg at 5:51 a.m. local time and disappeared from radar screens 23 minutes after takeoff.
20 ambulances are currently heading to central Sinai's Al-Hasana City.