UK probes Sharm security as Egypt, Russia dismiss bomb fears

Britain probed security at Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh airport on Thursday and scrambled to repatriate thousands of tourists as Cairo and Moscow dismissed fears a Russian plane was downed by a bomb.

Hours after Britain announced it was suspending flights in and out of the Red Sea resort, where most tourists are British or Russia, Germany's Lufthansa followed suit, citing "the current situation on the Sinai peninsula" as fears grew over airline safety.

And several European governments said they were also reviewing the situation.

British Prime Minister David Cameron held an emergency cabinet meeting on the repatriations and spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin to explain the decision before talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at Downing Street.

Citing intelligence, Cameron said it was "more likely than not that it was a terrorist bomb" that had caused a Russian passenger jet to crash in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday.

"There are a relatively simple and straightforward set of things that need to happen at Sharm el-Sheikh airport to give us greater certainty of safety," he added.

Flight KGL9268, which was heading for Saint Petersburg, crashed soon after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh airport, killing all 224 people on board.

Washington also believes a bomb may have caused the crash, but Cairo and Moscow contradicted that assessment.

Egypt's civil aviation minister Hossam Kamal said investigators "have as yet no evidence or data confirming the theory" of a bomb attack.

And the Kremlin dismissed the idea as "speculation".

"The reasons for what happened can only be put forward by the investigation," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"Any other proposed explanations seem like unverified information or some sort of speculation."

Caption:A handout picture shows Russian Emergency Minister Vladimir Puchkov (L) and Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov (4thR) visiting the crash site in Egypt

Photo Credit: Arab News