Russia: Over half of all Russian tourists have returned safely from Egypt – Dep PM Dvorkovich

Over half the Russian tourists in Egypt at the time of the fatal Russian passenger aircraft crash in the Sinai have since returned home safely, stated Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkadi Dvorkovich during a press conference in Moscow on Wednesday. He was discussing issues involving Russian tourist travel to and from Egypt since the Russian suspension of air traffic to the North African country. Dvorkovich said “more than 45,000 out of 80,000 tourists who were relaxing in Egypt at the time of November 6 have already returned to Russia,” the majority of whom returned as they “had planned to, using the same tickets on the same planes.” The politician said the only major outstanding issue was that of luggage and its return. Authorities have attempted to solve the issue by sending an Antonov An-124 aircraft to recover the baggage. According to Dvorkovich it would “quickly transport lots of luggage” which would then be “delivered through airports or mail facilities of the Russian postal service.”