The return of Russian tourists to Egypt has undergone the first and serious test of the exact operation of security systems, as well as the psychological stability of the vacationers themselves. So, on Wednesday the plane Egypt Air which took off from Cairo to Moscow, was compelled to return to Cairo because of messages with threats. Representatives of the carrier told about it.
Flight MS729 on A220-300 departed from Cairo at 11:14 local time (12:14 Kyiv time) and was to land at 16:23 at the capital’s Domodedovo airport. However, shortly after departure, while over the Mediterranean Sea, the liner sounded the alarm and returned to the airport in 22 minutes.
A statement from Egypt Air said the reason for the reversal was “the presence of a message on one of the seats of the plane with threats left by an unknown person.” Data on whether the danger was real, whether it was a malicious prank, or whether it was a check of the vigilance of the crews by the Egyptian secret services, the carrier’s representatives have not yet published. At least an inspection of the plane was conducted, no suspicious items were found. How and when tourists will get home – is also not yet reported.
We will remind that the plane crash with tourists (as it turned out later – act of terrorism) became the reason of closing of Egypt for the Russian tourists. Almost six years ago, on October 31, 2015, a Russian liner A-321, which took off from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, was blown up over Sinai. The liner took off from the airport of the resort and disappeared from communication in 23 minutes. The cause of the plane crash was a terrorist attack, which Egyptian officials have long refused to recognize. 217 passengers and 7 crew members were killed. After this terrorist attack, Egypt was closed to Russian tourists for almost six years.