Russian plane crash: British spies uncovered Isil bomb plot as Britons prepare to leave the resor
First rescue flights leave Sharm El-Sheikh today, as Obama says a bomb was "certainly possible" - yet Russia and Egypt insist it is too early to say
Sharm airport chaos
The BBC's Cairo bureau chief is in Sharm airport, and has tweeted that airport staff are allowing passengers to pay money to be whisked out of the queue.
08:14
No checked bags allowed from Sharm, including wheelchairs and prams
Raf Sanchez in Sharm El-Sheikh airport writes:
Passengers are expected to begin flying back to the UK today but with severe restrictions on their baggage. No checked bags will be allowed on the flight and passengers can only carry a laptop size bag with them in the cabin. Wheelchairs and prams are also not allowed onto the plane and must be left behind
.
Security checks at the airport in Sharm El Sheikh, Photo: Rex Features
Passengers have been told to leave their bags at the airport and they will be flown home by "a government agency" and returned to their homes by courier.
08:11
Transport Secretary: ban on checked luggage to remain in place
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said that current restrictions on hold luggage and the suspension of passenger flights into Sharm el-Sheikh would remain in place "until we've got longer-term assurances about the security at the airport".
He told BBC1's Breakfast: "At the moment, the advice is that we don't advise people to fly into Sharm el-Sheikh. We don't have any problems with the safety of the resort itself but we are concerned about flights into Sharm el-Sheikh.
"I hope we can restore our confidence in the security of the airport as soon as possible."
He also said that a bomb in the hold of the Metrojet plane was "a high probability".
He told Sky News: "We've made our position very clear on that, that we think that is a high probability. We are obviously waiting for final confirmation of that, but we felt it was right to act on the information that we got and we did act."
Mr McLoughlin also told ITV1's Good Morning Britain: "The airlines have been incredibly co-operative with us to sort this out and we are going to have a number of aircraft going out today and bringing people back home.
"I think most of the people who were expecting to be home by tonight will be home by tonight.
08:01
Summary of the last 24 hours
Egypt's aircraft security shutdown was instigated after British spies intercepted messages which showed that Isil extremists had plotted a major terrorist attack in the region.
Yesterday, David Cameron said it was “more likely than not” that a bomb brought down the plane on, and Barack Obama said that a bomb was "certainly possible".
Flights will resume today, with 20 aircraft carrying about 4,000 people back to Britain. But passengers were warned that they would not be allowed to take luggage in the hold.
What do we know so far?
British tourists trapped in Sharm el-Sheikh will start coming home on Friday.
In all there are an estimated 20,000 UK holidaymakers who have been stranded at the resort since flights were halted.
Cindy Crawford, from Scotland, sits on the sidewalk outside the airport at Sharm El-Sheikh waiting for more information on a flight Photo: Getty
Around 4,000 will be on the first batch of 20 planes leaving Sharm el-Sheikh, they will only be allowed to carry hand luggage. The rest of their baggage will be transported separately.
UK Flights to and from the Red Sea resort were grounded as the belief grew that a terrorist bomb was responsible for bringing down the Russian Metrojet Airbus A321 on Saturday, killing all 224 people on board.
Foreign Office is co-ordinating evacuation of British holidaymakers
04:13
US to call for tighter airport security
Washington is expected to call for tighter security at all airports with direct flights to the US.
According to ABC News there may even be an announcement by the weekend, although the Department of Homeland Security declined to be drawn.
The Obama administration has been keen to tighten up security for some time, largely as part of an effort to prevent foreign terrorists getting into the US.
In September last year Jeh Johnson, the Homeland Security Secretary, said he wanted to place American immigration officials at overseas airports to prevent potential security risks from boarding flights to the US
"I regard it as a homeland security imperative to build more. To use a football metaphor, I’d much rather defend our end-zone from the 50-yard line than from our one-yard line.
“I want to take every opportunity we have to expand homeland security beyond our borders."
Since then agreement has been reached with Manchester Airport for passengers to be precleared before flying across the Atlantic.
Exploratory talks have also begun over a similar initiative at Heathrow.
Jeh Johnson keen to boost security on flights to the US Photo: GETTY IMAGES
01:07
EU rules will require airlines to pay stranded passengers' extra hotel bills
Holidaymakers stranded by the cancellation of flights from Sharm el-Sheikh will benefit from EU rules designed to protect passengers from delays and cancellations.
Under a regulation known as EU261, airlines are obliged to pick up the bill for hotel accommodation when a flight is grounded.
However the massive bill faced by airlines after flights across Europe were grounded for a week following the eruption of the the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland, led to Brussels overhauling the regulations in 2013.
While airlines remain legally responsible to pay the extra hotel bills run up by stranded passengers, they will no longer be expected to pay compensation because of the exceptional circumstances – in this case terrorism – which led to flights being cancelled.
23:30
'Disaster' for Egypt's tourism industry
Egypt's tourism figures have already plummeted from a record high of 14.7 million in 2010 to around 10 million - and they are now expected to fall even further.
Nadejda Popova, a senior travel analyst at Euromonitor International, said:
Tourists ... dissociated this part of Egypt from the unrest elsewhere.
The decision of the UK is going to have a very serious impact on the local economy and of course on tourism as the only pockets of safety in the country in terms of tourism are now compromised.
22:50
How effective is airport security?
David Learmount, consulting editor at Flightglobal, analyses the current state of airport security.
He writes:
Effective security involves constant intelligence assessment to identify changing risks.
But it also, inevitably, involves a degree of compromise, without which airports would resemble military bases in wartime, not civilian mass transit centres.
Lockerbie, in 1988, saw these measures become more methodical, but international norms were only really coordinated after 9/11. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a UN body, agreed on a set of global security standards, and these have since been updated to respond to developing threats. By signing the ICAO treaty, known as the Chicago Convention, nation states agree to apply these standards in their own airports. Some 192, including Egypt, have made that promise.
So global standards exist. But it is up to individual nations to apply them.
22:31
Obama's comments far stronger than anything from the White House so far
Barack Obama, speaking on a Kiro/CBS radio station:
We are taking very seriously the possibility that there was a bomb on board.
We're going to spend a lot of time just making sure our own investigators and own intelligence community find out what's going on before we make any definitive pronouncements.
But it's certainly possible that there was a bomb on board.
British spies uncovered Isil bomb plot
The Egyptian security shutdown was sparked after British spies intercepted messages which showed Isil extremists had plotted a major terror attack in the region, the Telegraph can disclose.
The communications and “chatter” - uncovered by British intelligence only after the Russian passenger jet tragedy - are what led David Cameron to say it was “more likely than not” that a bomb brought the plane down on Saturday killing 224 people.
The intelligence resulted in Britain suspending all flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh, leaving 20,000 British tourists stranded at the holiday resort.
Flights will resume on Friday with 20 aircraft carrying about 4,000 people back to Britain. But passengers were warned they would not be allowed to take luggage in the hold.
The move suggests officials fear a bomb was smuggled into the hold of flight 7K9268 in the checked luggage. It came as it emerged Britain raised concerns around baggage handling at Sharm el-Sheikh airport ten months ago.
22:04
Scenes from Sharm airport
Our Cairo correspondent Magdy Samaan took these images showing scenes inside the airport today.
Russian tourists were returning home, as Moscow has not stopped flights. Britons, Dutch and Irish were unable to fly as their countries had suspended travel.
Security at at Sharm el-Sheikh airport Photo: Magdy Samaan/The Telegraph
British holidaymakers have told how they have been offered the chance to pay up to £20 to skip queues and bag checks at Sharm el-Sheikh airport.
Dale Parkyn, who visited the Red Sea resort with his wife earlier this year, told Sky News they were approached by a man in military uniform and asked if they would like to avoid the long queues.
The 47 year old, from Harrogate, said: "What we did is we discussed it and he then produced a £20 note and said, 'Have you one of these' and you can avoid the queue.
"We walked right through the security gates and security procedure, straight through the airport, avoided all the queues, and then he put the case on the conveyor belt and the girl checked us in. At no point did my luggage go through any scanner. When I think now, it was bizarre.
"At the time it was quite amusing that for us, for £20, we'd avoided all the queues."
08:30
Dale Parkyn, who visited the Red Sea resort with his wife earlier this year, told Sky News they were approached by a man in military uniform and asked if they would like to avoid the long queues.
The 47 year old, from Harrogate, said: "What we did is we discussed it and he then produced a £20 note and said, 'Have you one of these' and you can avoid the queue.
"We walked right through the security gates and security procedure, straight through the airport, avoided all the queues, and then he put the case on the conveyor belt and the girl checked us in. At no point did my luggage go through any scanner. When I think now, it was bizarre.
"At the time it was quite amusing that for us, for £20, we'd avoided all the queues."
08:30
Sharm airport chaos
The BBC's Cairo bureau chief is in Sharm airport, and has tweeted that airport staff are allowing passengers to pay money to be whisked out of the queue.
08:14
No checked bags allowed from Sharm, including wheelchairs and prams
Raf Sanchez in Sharm El-Sheikh airport writes:
Passengers are expected to begin flying back to the UK today but with severe restrictions on their baggage. No checked bags will be allowed on the flight and passengers can only carry a laptop size bag with them in the cabin. Wheelchairs and prams are also not allowed onto the plane and must be left behind.
Security checks at the airport in Sharm El Sheikh, Photo: Rex FeaturesPassengers have been told to leave their bags at the airport and they will be flown home by "a government agency" and returned to their homes by courier.
08:11
Transport Secretary: ban on checked luggage to remain in place
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said that current restrictions on hold luggage and the suspension of passenger flights into Sharm el-Sheikh would remain in place "until we've got longer-term assurances about the security at the airport".
He told BBC1's Breakfast: "At the moment, the advice is that we don't advise people to fly into Sharm el-Sheikh. We don't have any problems with the safety of the resort itself but we are concerned about flights into Sharm el-Sheikh.
"I hope we can restore our confidence in the security of the airport as soon as possible."
He also said that a bomb in the hold of the Metrojet plane was "a high probability".
He told Sky News: "We've made our position very clear on that, that we think that is a high probability. We are obviously waiting for final confirmation of that, but we felt it was right to act on the information that we got and we did act."
Mr McLoughlin also told ITV1's Good Morning Britain: "The airlines have been incredibly co-operative with us to sort this out and we are going to have a number of aircraft going out today and bringing people back home.
"I think most of the people who were expecting to be home by tonight will be home by tonight.
08:01
Summary of the last 24 hours
Egypt's aircraft security shutdown was instigated after British spies intercepted messages which showed that Isil extremists had plotted a major terrorist attack in the region.
Yesterday, David Cameron said it was “more likely than not” that a bomb brought down the plane on, and Barack Obama said that a bomb was "certainly possible".
Flights will resume today, with 20 aircraft carrying about 4,000 people back to Britain. But passengers were warned that they would not be allowed to take luggage in the hold.
Staff from the British Embassy advise travellers in the check-in hall of Sharm el-Sheikh airport Photo: Corbis
The policy suggests that officials fear a bomb was smuggled into the hold of flight 7K9268 inside checked luggage.
Investigators suspect that a baggage handler at Sharm el-Sheikh airportmay have smuggled a bomb on board the downed Russian passenger jet, investigators suspect.
Latest photographs of the wreckage of flight 9268 appear to show holes in the fuselage punched from the inside out, suggesting an explosion inside the Airbus A321.
The ringed area appears to show where shrapnel has exited the fuselage of Flight 9268 Photo: EPA
Internal components including part of a door also appear to have been peppered with shrapnel from inside the cabin.
The ringed area appears to show an area peppered with shrapnel in the wreckage of Flight 9268 Photo: TASS/Corbis
It has emerged that Britain raised concerns about baggage handling at Sharm el-Sheikh airport 10 months ago.
If British intelligence proves correct, it would be the first airline bombing by Isil extremists.
Tensions were mounting in hotels in Sharm, as one man grabbed an Egyptian hotel manager and tore his shirt and name badge during an argument over extending his family’s stay at the resort.
A total of 17 flights to Britain were suspended yesterday, leaving 3,500 people with no way home. However, it may be “weeks” before outbound flights to the resort resume.
Speaking after a meeting with Mr Cameron, Egyptian president Sisi said he believed there was a "good mutual understanding" and that Cairo was "completely ready to co-operate with all of our friends" on ensuring the safety of foreign tourists.
David Cameron holds talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at 10 Downing Street Photo: EPA
Britain’s decision to suspend flights on Wednesday sparked a diplomatic row with Egypt and Russia who attacked the UK for not sharing intelligence and taking a “premature and unwarranted” decision.
Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, said that the intelligence that prompted the UK action was not being shared widely with other countries.
"Some intelligence we can share, some we cannot," he said.
06:00
The policy suggests that officials fear a bomb was smuggled into the hold of flight 7K9268 inside checked luggage.
Investigators suspect that a baggage handler at Sharm el-Sheikh airportmay have smuggled a bomb on board the downed Russian passenger jet, investigators suspect.
Latest photographs of the wreckage of flight 9268 appear to show holes in the fuselage punched from the inside out, suggesting an explosion inside the Airbus A321.
The ringed area appears to show where shrapnel has exited the fuselage of Flight 9268 Photo: EPAInternal components including part of a door also appear to have been peppered with shrapnel from inside the cabin.
The ringed area appears to show an area peppered with shrapnel in the wreckage of Flight 9268 Photo: TASS/CorbisIt has emerged that Britain raised concerns about baggage handling at Sharm el-Sheikh airport 10 months ago.
If British intelligence proves correct, it would be the first airline bombing by Isil extremists.
Tensions were mounting in hotels in Sharm, as one man grabbed an Egyptian hotel manager and tore his shirt and name badge during an argument over extending his family’s stay at the resort.
A total of 17 flights to Britain were suspended yesterday, leaving 3,500 people with no way home. However, it may be “weeks” before outbound flights to the resort resume.
Speaking after a meeting with Mr Cameron, Egyptian president Sisi said he believed there was a "good mutual understanding" and that Cairo was "completely ready to co-operate with all of our friends" on ensuring the safety of foreign tourists.
David Cameron holds talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at 10 Downing Street Photo: EPABritain’s decision to suspend flights on Wednesday sparked a diplomatic row with Egypt and Russia who attacked the UK for not sharing intelligence and taking a “premature and unwarranted” decision.
Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, said that the intelligence that prompted the UK action was not being shared widely with other countries.
"Some intelligence we can share, some we cannot," he said.
06:00
What do we know so far?
British tourists trapped in Sharm el-Sheikh will start coming home on Friday.
In all there are an estimated 20,000 UK holidaymakers who have been stranded at the resort since flights were halted.
Cindy Crawford, from Scotland, sits on the sidewalk outside the airport at Sharm El-Sheikh waiting for more information on a flight Photo: GettyAround 4,000 will be on the first batch of 20 planes leaving Sharm el-Sheikh, they will only be allowed to carry hand luggage. The rest of their baggage will be transported separately.
UK Flights to and from the Red Sea resort were grounded as the belief grew that a terrorist bomb was responsible for bringing down the Russian Metrojet Airbus A321 on Saturday, killing all 224 people on board.
The Hancock family from Rotheram who were stranded at Manchester Airport having paid £4,000 for a holiday to Sharm El-Sheik which was cancelled due to the terror alert Photo: Manchster Evening News
The German airline, Lufthansa, has also halted flights by its subsidiary, Eurowings, to Sharm el-Sheikh and the Belgian government has advised its nationals against flying to the resort.
In the immediate aftermath of the crash there was scepticism over the Islamic State’s claim that it was responsible for the disaster.
But the view changed after British spies intercepted messages showing that ISIL extremists had been planning a major attack in the region.
Then David Cameron said it was “more likely than not” that a bomb brought the plane down.
President Barack Obama said the US was “taking very seriously” suggestions that a bomb was used to down the Airbus.
Now the focus is shifting onto the state of security at Sharm el-Sheikh airport.
The German airline, Lufthansa, has also halted flights by its subsidiary, Eurowings, to Sharm el-Sheikh and the Belgian government has advised its nationals against flying to the resort.
In the immediate aftermath of the crash there was scepticism over the Islamic State’s claim that it was responsible for the disaster.
But the view changed after British spies intercepted messages showing that ISIL extremists had been planning a major attack in the region.
Then David Cameron said it was “more likely than not” that a bomb brought the plane down.
President Barack Obama said the US was “taking very seriously” suggestions that a bomb was used to down the Airbus.
Now the focus is shifting onto the state of security at Sharm el-Sheikh airport.
A photograph of 10-month-old Darina Gromova is seen next to flowers and cuddy toys at a makeshift memorial for the victims of the Russian MetroJet Airbus A321 crash Photo: AP
Egypt did sign the Chicago Treaty, drawn up by the International Civil Aviation Organisation to meet global security standards.
But there is some scepticism over how effective security really is at the airport.
One theory is that the bomb could have been smuggled onto the aircraft by a baggage handler.
Staff at Sharm el-Sheikh are not subject the stringent security checks which are in force at UK airports.
The latest reports coming out of Sharm el-Sheikh airport are somewhat alarming.
British holidaymakers have said that they were invited to sidestep baggage checks for as little as £20.
05:01
Egypt did sign the Chicago Treaty, drawn up by the International Civil Aviation Organisation to meet global security standards.
But there is some scepticism over how effective security really is at the airport.
One theory is that the bomb could have been smuggled onto the aircraft by a baggage handler.
Staff at Sharm el-Sheikh are not subject the stringent security checks which are in force at UK airports.
The latest reports coming out of Sharm el-Sheikh airport are somewhat alarming.
British holidaymakers have said that they were invited to sidestep baggage checks for as little as £20.
05:01
Foreign Office is co-ordinating evacuation of British holidaymakers
04:13
British holidaymakers told they could "skip Sharm el-Sheikh security queues for £20"
This is an alarming report on the state of security at Sharm el-Sheikh from the Press Association:
British holidaymakers have told how they have been offered the chance to pay up to £20 to skip queues and bag checks at Sharm el-Sheikh airport.
The Government suspended air links on Wednesday amid fears a bomb was used to down a Russian passenger plane in Egypt, killing 224 people.
Dale Parkyn, who visited the Red Sea resort with his wife earlier this year, told Sky News they were approached by a man in military uniform and asked if they would like to avoid the long queues.
The 47 year old, from Harrogate, said: "What we did is we discussed it and he then produced a £20 note and said, 'Have you one of these' and you can avoid the queue.
"We walked right through the security gates and security procedure, straight through the airport, avoided all the queues, and then he put the case on the conveyor belt and the girl checked us in. At no point did my luggage go through any scanner. When I think now, it was bizarre.
"At the time it was quite amusing that for us, for £20, we'd avoided all the queues."
03:17
This is an alarming report on the state of security at Sharm el-Sheikh from the Press Association:
British holidaymakers have told how they have been offered the chance to pay up to £20 to skip queues and bag checks at Sharm el-Sheikh airport.
The Government suspended air links on Wednesday amid fears a bomb was used to down a Russian passenger plane in Egypt, killing 224 people.
Dale Parkyn, who visited the Red Sea resort with his wife earlier this year, told Sky News they were approached by a man in military uniform and asked if they would like to avoid the long queues.
The 47 year old, from Harrogate, said: "What we did is we discussed it and he then produced a £20 note and said, 'Have you one of these' and you can avoid the queue.
"We walked right through the security gates and security procedure, straight through the airport, avoided all the queues, and then he put the case on the conveyor belt and the girl checked us in. At no point did my luggage go through any scanner. When I think now, it was bizarre.
"At the time it was quite amusing that for us, for £20, we'd avoided all the queues."
03:17
US to call for tighter airport security
Washington is expected to call for tighter security at all airports with direct flights to the US.
According to ABC News there may even be an announcement by the weekend, although the Department of Homeland Security declined to be drawn.
The Obama administration has been keen to tighten up security for some time, largely as part of an effort to prevent foreign terrorists getting into the US.
In September last year Jeh Johnson, the Homeland Security Secretary, said he wanted to place American immigration officials at overseas airports to prevent potential security risks from boarding flights to the US
"I regard it as a homeland security imperative to build more. To use a football metaphor, I’d much rather defend our end-zone from the 50-yard line than from our one-yard line.
“I want to take every opportunity we have to expand homeland security beyond our borders."
Since then agreement has been reached with Manchester Airport for passengers to be precleared before flying across the Atlantic.
Exploratory talks have also begun over a similar initiative at Heathrow.
Jeh Johnson keen to boost security on flights to the US Photo: GETTY IMAGES01:07
EU rules will require airlines to pay stranded passengers' extra hotel bills
Holidaymakers stranded by the cancellation of flights from Sharm el-Sheikh will benefit from EU rules designed to protect passengers from delays and cancellations.
Under a regulation known as EU261, airlines are obliged to pick up the bill for hotel accommodation when a flight is grounded.
However the massive bill faced by airlines after flights across Europe were grounded for a week following the eruption of the the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland, led to Brussels overhauling the regulations in 2013.
While airlines remain legally responsible to pay the extra hotel bills run up by stranded passengers, they will no longer be expected to pay compensation because of the exceptional circumstances – in this case terrorism – which led to flights being cancelled.
23:30
'Disaster' for Egypt's tourism industry
Egypt's tourism figures have already plummeted from a record high of 14.7 million in 2010 to around 10 million - and they are now expected to fall even further.
Nadejda Popova, a senior travel analyst at Euromonitor International, said:
Tourists ... dissociated this part of Egypt from the unrest elsewhere.The decision of the UK is going to have a very serious impact on the local economy and of course on tourism as the only pockets of safety in the country in terms of tourism are now compromised.
22:50
How effective is airport security?
David Learmount, consulting editor at Flightglobal, analyses the current state of airport security.
He writes:
Effective security involves constant intelligence assessment to identify changing risks.But it also, inevitably, involves a degree of compromise, without which airports would resemble military bases in wartime, not civilian mass transit centres.
Lockerbie, in 1988, saw these measures become more methodical, but international norms were only really coordinated after 9/11. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a UN body, agreed on a set of global security standards, and these have since been updated to respond to developing threats. By signing the ICAO treaty, known as the Chicago Convention, nation states agree to apply these standards in their own airports. Some 192, including Egypt, have made that promise.
So global standards exist. But it is up to individual nations to apply them.
22:31
Obama's comments far stronger than anything from the White House so far
Barack Obama, speaking on a Kiro/CBS radio station:
We are taking very seriously the possibility that there was a bomb on board.We're going to spend a lot of time just making sure our own investigators and own intelligence community find out what's going on before we make any definitive pronouncements.
But it's certainly possible that there was a bomb on board.
British spies uncovered Isil bomb plot
The Egyptian security shutdown was sparked after British spies intercepted messages which showed Isil extremists had plotted a major terror attack in the region, the Telegraph can disclose.
The communications and “chatter” - uncovered by British intelligence only after the Russian passenger jet tragedy - are what led David Cameron to say it was “more likely than not” that a bomb brought the plane down on Saturday killing 224 people.
The intelligence resulted in Britain suspending all flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh, leaving 20,000 British tourists stranded at the holiday resort.
Flights will resume on Friday with 20 aircraft carrying about 4,000 people back to Britain. But passengers were warned they would not be allowed to take luggage in the hold.
The move suggests officials fear a bomb was smuggled into the hold of flight 7K9268 in the checked luggage. It came as it emerged Britain raised concerns around baggage handling at Sharm el-Sheikh airport ten months ago.
22:04
Scenes from Sharm airport
Our Cairo correspondent Magdy Samaan took these images showing scenes inside the airport today.
Russian tourists were returning home, as Moscow has not stopped flights. Britons, Dutch and Irish were unable to fly as their countries had suspended travel.
Security at at Sharm el-Sheikh airport Photo: Magdy Samaan/The Telegraph
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