AKIPRESS.COM - 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.

A militant group affiliated to Islamic State in Egypt, Sinai Province, said in a statement it had brought down the plane "in response to Russian airstrikes that killed hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land", but Russia's Transport Minister told Interfax news agency the claim "can't be considered accurate".

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 aviation ministry said.

On November 1, the first plane with the bodies of Airbus-A321 crash victims left Egypt for St. Petersburg. A Russian Emergencies Ministry airlifter with the bodies of flight 2968 victims has set off toward St. Petersburg, Russia from the airport in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, the ministry’s press service said Sunday, reports Sputnik International.

"EMERCOM Il-76 aircraft has taken off from Cairo to St. Petersburg. The bodies of those killed are on board," the press service said, specifying that the plane departed at 20:45 GMT.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry aircraft with the bodies of 144 out of 224 victims of the Kogalymavia airliner was to depart toward Russia at 20:30 GMT, Deputy Minister Vladimir Stepanov said Sunday.

"The planned timeframe to finish loading bodies is at 11:00 p.m. Moscow time [20:00 GMT], the flight is at 11:30 p.m. Moscow time [20:30 GMT]," Stepanov said at a conference call.

Another ministry representative said the bodies of the victims were loaded onto the Il-76 (NATO reporting name Candid) airlifter, adding that the expected arrival time in St. Petersburg is 02:00 GMT.

Over 200 DNA samples have been gathered among the victims’ relatives to identify the bodies. The Russian Health Ministry said earlier all preparatory works for the identification process have been completed.

The Kogalymavia aircraft crashed in the northern Sinai Peninsula early Saturday shortly after takeoff from the Sharm El-Sheikh resort to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board.