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Egypt plane 'terror attack': Birmingham Airport rescue flight for stranded British tourists

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Passengers stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh are due to be brought home on a rescue flight in to Birmingham Airport tomorrow.

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Around a dozen flights between Birmingham and the Egyptian airport have been cancelled after the Foreign Office has advised against all but essential air travel to the airport.

  • Do you know people affected by the cancellations? Get in touch via Twitter or newsdesk@expressandstar.co.uk

The advice came after intelligence suggested there was a "significant possibility" that a bomb had been placed on a Russian aircraft that crashed 20 minutes after taking off, killing all 224 on board.

At Birmingham Airport, four flights were cancelled today - two departures at 10am and 10.40am operated by Monarch and Thomson airlines and two arrivals with same airlines.

Both airlines have cancelled flights up to and including November 12.

Monarch was due to bring holidaymakers home on a rescue flight which was due to arrive at Birmingham Airport at 8.35pm tomorrow.

In a statement Thomson said: "We are doing everything we can to assist customers as we manage this evolving situation.

"All customers booked to travel to Sharm el Sheikh in this period will be provided with a full refund or can amend to any holiday currently on sale."

Monarch has also offered refunds or the option to change flights to an alternative date or destination.

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Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond today said British authorities were working with their Egyptian counterparts and the airlines to introduce emergency measures to bring British tourists safely and securely back to the UK.

He told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "These are special additional measures, not necessarily something that we could do on a sustainable basis but something that we will put in as a short term special measure to get back home the people who are there now."

In the longer term they will look at tightening routine procedures at Sharm el-Sheikh to ensure that normal flights can resume to and from the area.

But he warned: "That could take days, it could take weeks ... it depends on the experts.

"But in terms of the short term emergency measures the airline industry is indicating that they expect by tomorrow to be in a position to start bringing people out with those measures in place."

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