Russia: St. Petersburg officials hold morning press on Sinai Airbus crash

Officials of the St. Petersburg government held a morning press briefing in St. Petersburg, Wednesday, following the Sinai plane crash on Saturday. Igor Albin, the vice-governor of St. Petersburg, said that 33 bodies were identified and one body has been released to the relatives of the victim. He also stressed that the search area was extended to 40 square kilometres. The active work of the operational investigative group is still ongoing. "Today, during the day, we will continue the work on preparation of the victims for identification procedure," he added. The Russian Airbus A321 passenger jet flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg broke into pieces in mid-air over Sinai peninsula, 23 minutes after take-off, on Saturday morning. The crash killed all 224 people on board.