Russian jet ‘broke up at high altitude’

The Russian passenger plane that crashed in Egypt, killing everyone on board, broke up at high altitude, Russia’s top aviation official has said.

The Metrojet plane, bound for St Petersburg, crashed 23 minutes after it took off from Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday morning. The 224 people on board, all Russian except for four Ukrainians and one Belarusian, died.

Fragments of the plane were found scattered over a large area, indicating it had disintegrated high in the air, said Alexander Neradko, head of Russia’s federal aviation agency.