European airlines are avoiding the Sinai Peninsula after the Russian plane crash

Paramedics load bodies of Russian plane crash victims into military aircraft
(Image credit: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images)

Two major European airlines, Lufthansa and Air France, said Saturday they would avoid flying over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula for safety reasons in the wake of a Russian plane crash that killed all 224 passengers on board, Reuters reports.

"We took the decision to avoid the area because the situation and the reasons for the crash were not clear," said a spokeswoman for German-based Lufthansa. "We will continue to avoid the area until it is clear what caused the crash."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.