CAIRO: A plane carrying the remains of 140 victims of the crashed Russian plane arrived Monday in St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport, Youm7 reported.
Bodily remains of 175 out of 224 people on board the Airbus 321 have been recovered by rescue crews so far, officers involved in the search efforts told Youm7.
A second plane carrying the rest of the recovered bodies was set to leave Egypt Monday night as their relatives in Russia are prepared to identify their remains.
Family members of the victims have already started providing DNA samples at a crisis centre established at the Pulkovo airport, Russian officials told Reuters Monday.
The Third Field Army has taken over the rescue mission and transported the bodies to Cairo. A state of emergency was ordered at hospitals in central Sinai and South Sinai, but none survived the crash.