UK firm to review security at Egypt’s Sharm airport

A British firm hired to review security at Egyptian airports after the October crash of a Russian plane will begin its work at the weekend, the civil aviation minister says Wednesday.

The global consultancy firm Control Risks will begin “assessing security procedures at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport from Sunday,” Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal says in a statement.

The A-321 airliner operated by Russia’s Metrojet and bound for Saint Petersburg broke up mid-air over the Sinai, minutes after take-off from the Red Sea tourism hub of Sharm el-Sheikh. Moscow has said the tragedy was caused by a “terrorist attack” but Cairo says it has no evidence to back up this analysis.

An Egyptian branch of the jihadist Islamic State group said it had found a way to “compromise security” at the Sharm airport and smuggled a bomb on board that blew up the Russian plane.

— AFP

A screenshot of the IED the Islamic State group says it used to down the Russian plane over the Sinai Peninsula (screen capture: Dabiq)