A Russian plane carrying more than 200 civilian passengers crashed in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula on Saturday, reported Agence France-Presse. The Egyptian rescue teams, which included military forces and 45 ambulances, located the aircraft in the rugged mountainous region near the town of Arish. They said it had been almost completely destroyed and it was unlikely that anyone had survived. Reuters reported that at least 100 bodies have been found, but voices of trapped passengers could be heard from one section of the plane.

Earlier in the day, amid confusion following reports that the missing plane had safely re-established contact with Turkey, Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail's office confirmed that the flight had crashed and a cabinet-level crisis committee had been formed to deal with the accident. Officials said the plane had developed technical problems. Russia’s aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya, said the Kogalymavia airline flight, which was mainly carrying Russian tourists, was to land in St Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport at 12:10 pm local time, according to the BBC. The plane was unable to make scheduled contact with Cyprus air traffic control and disappeared, the authority said.

The plane was on its way to Russia after taking off from resort town Sharm el-Sheikh, which lies along the Red Sea. It went missing 23 minutes after taking off. According to the Telegraph, the plane came down in a part of Sinia where Egypt has undertaken operations against ISIS and its supporters. However, the paper reported, Egyptian authorities said the plane had not been shot down.