Airbus with 224 aboard crashes in Egypt's Sinai, all killed!

A Russian airliner carrying 224 passengers crashed into a mountainous area of Egypt's Sinai peninsula on Saturday shortly after losing radar contact near cruising altitude, killing all aboard.

The Airbus A321, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia under the brand name Metrojet, was flying from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg in Russia when it went down in central Sinai soon after daybreak. "The plane split into two, a small part on the tail end that burned and a larger part that crashed into a rockface. 

Both black boxes of the plane had been found. 129 bodies had so far been removed and the chances of finding survivors were now near-impossible. Two of Europe's largest airlines, Lufthansa and Air France-KLM, said they would avoid flying over the Sinai peninsula while awaiting an explanation on the cause of the crash. Emergency services and aviation specialists searched the wreckage for any clues to the crash. Wreckage was scattered over a wide area.

Brief History about The Airbus A321
The A321 is a medium-haul jet in service since 1994, with over 1,100 in operation worldwide and a good safety record. It is a highly automated aircraft relying on computers to help pilots stay within safe flying limits. The A321 was built in 1997 and had been operated by Metrojet since 2012. It had flown 56,000 hours in nearly 21,000 flights and was powered by engines from International Aero Engines consortium, which includes United Technologies unit Pratt & Whitney and Germany's MTU Aero Engines.