Russians, Ukrainians mourn compatriots on plane that crashed in Egypt

A relative of the victims of a Russian airliner with 217 passengers and seven crew aboard has crashed, reacts at Pulkovo airport in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015.

Russia's association of tour operators has released the names of all 224 people who were on board the Kogalymavia Airbus A321 that crashed on the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday. Russian authorities say there are no survivors.

While the exact cause is still unknown, sources involved in the investigation told Russia's Interfax news agency that the crash is believed to have been caused by mechanical failure. But investigators are looking at all possible causes and weighing the "human factor and poor weather conditions combined with complicated mountainous terrain."

The manifest lists the crew of the aircraft as pilot Valery Y. Nemov, second pilot Sergey S. Trukhachev, senior flight attendant Valentina Petrovna Martsevich, and flight attendants Andrew V. Belomestnov, Irina D. Olaru, Stanislav V. Sviridov and Alexey Filimonov.

Among the 217 passengers were 17 children. Egyptian officials said 214 of the passengers were Russian and three Ukrainian.

Families of the passengers have gathered at St. Petersburg Pulkovo Airport, where the plane was supposed to land.

A relative of those on the Metrojet flight that crashed in Egypt react as they gather to grieve at a hotel near St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport outside St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015.


IMAGE: AP PHOTO/DMITRY LOVETSKY

Egyptian Cabinet Spokesman Hossam el-Qawish said a working group that includes the ministers of civil aviation, tourism, and interior and social solidarity, along with the ministers of health, defense and foreign affairs, and the ambulance authority was working to recover the bodies on Saturday, according to the Russian embassy in Cairo.

The embassy said as many as 50 ambulances were dispatched to the crash site to transport the victims' bodies to Zenhoum morgue.

Among the 217 passengers were 17 children. Egyptian officials said 214 of the passengers were Russian and three Ukrainian.

Images of some of the passengers circulated on Russian news sites and social media a

One of the images, posted to the Vkontakte page of Olga Sheina, shows a man holding his young daughter on the steps of a plane with the words "jet" visible behind them. The plane was operated under the brand name Metrojet. "We're going home," reads the caption in Russian.

IMAGE: VK/OLGA SHEINA

The plane's passenger manifest includes Olga Sheina, born on May 10, 1985, as well as Iurii Shein, born on April 1, 1977, and Anastasiia Sheina, born on March 7, 2012.

Those details match with the Vkontake account of Olga Sheina, who posted the photo and was last active on the site yesterday.

"Hi Peter, goodbye Egypt. We're going home," reads Sheina's status on Vkontakte, Russia's version of Facebook, referring to the Russian city of St. Petersburg.

An Egyptian search and rescue crew transfers the body of a victim of a plane crash from a civil police helicopter to an ambulance at Kabrit airport in Suez, east of Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015.

Russia's LifeNews published what it claims to be photos showing two of the three Ukrainian passengers who were aboard the doomed flight: Vladimir Sachuk, Irina Usatova and Kirill Usatov. The two photos show Usatova and one of the men wearing sunglasses on a beach and posing for a selfie on board a plane.

Russians and Ukrainians on Saturday posted messages of love and support for the victims and their families on social media. A watercolor painting showing a jetliner flying through a sky of red and gray clouds and adorned with red carnations read, "We mourn."

In Kiev, Ukrainians laid flowers at the gates of the Russian embassy in solidarity.

The full passenger manifest can be seen here