No Aussies in Russian plane crash

No Australians were on a Russian airliner that crashed in a mountainous area of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board.

The Australian Embassy in Cairo and the Australian Embassy in Moscow have been in contact with local authorities, DFAT says.

“We can confirm no Australians were listed as being on board,” it said in a statement.

Egyptian Prime Minister Sharif Ismail and Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolo have expressed doubts about a claim by Islamic State that an IS affiliate in Egypt was responsible for downing the aircraft.

The Airbus A321 with 214 Russian and three Ukranian passengers and seven crew, took off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in south Sinai bound for Saint Petersburg late on Saturday (AEDT).

It lost contact with air traffic control 23 minutes later.

Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said reports an Islamic State affiliated organisation has claimed responsibility for the downing of the plane are “extremely concerning”.

“There must be a fast, comprehensive investigation to determine the cause of the crash. The Australian Government should do everything it can to assist,” she said in statement.

Australian aviation expert Peter Marosszeky echoed doubts that an IS affiliate was behind the disaster.

“It doesn’t seem likely that it’s a terrorist act,” he told ABC television.

But he said the age of the aircraft, which was built in 1997, and the fact it’d had four different owners in recent times posed questions about its maintenance record.

“It is unusual (for an aircraft to have so many owners in a short time). You don’t see it very often,” he said.

“So the question raises itself, has it had a good history of maintenance and engineering?”

He said the Airbus A320 series was popular with budget airlines.

“It’s a good aeroplane to operate but it does need a lot of attention.”

Mr Marosszeky said the plane’s black box recorders, which have been recovered, should reflect any technical problem with the plane.

A Qantas spokesman told AAP the airline does not fly over Sinai so its operations won’t be affected.

Emirates, a partner airline of Qantas, has halted flights over Sinai until the cause of the crash is clear. Lufthansa and Air France have done the same.

The Islamic State (IS) group affiliate in Egypt has said it downed the plane, without saying how, but Russia’s transport minister said the claim “cannot be considered accurate” and an Egyptian security official said the plane did not crash because of an attack.

An Air France spokesperson told AFP they would not fly over Sinai until further notice, “as a precaution” while “clarification” was sought over why the Russian charter plane crashed.

Lufthansa told the German newspaper Die Welt it was taking the same measure for the same reason.

Military experts have told AFP that IS militants in Sinai do not have weapons capable of hitting an aircraft at 30,000 feet (9000 metres), the altitude of the airliner when it lost contact.

But they have not ruled out a bomb on board or the possibility that the plane was hit by a rocket as it descended because of technical problems.

A senior Egyptian air traffic control official said the pilot of the Airbus A321 told him in their last communication that he had radio trouble.

The Kogalymavia flight with 214 Russian and three Ukranian passengers and seven crew, had taken off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in south Sinai bound for Saint Petersburg.

Two air accident investigators from France – Airbus’s home country – are to travel to Egypt along with six experts from the aerospace giant to help with the probe.

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