Egypt plane crash: Normal Sharm el-Sheikh to UK service 'could take weeks'

Thousands of British tourists are stranded in Egypt after all flights between the UK and Sharm el-Sheikh were suspended yesterday.

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Birmingham Airport urged passengers planning to travel to Sharm el-Sheikh to contact airlines directly about the possibility of refunds.

Mr Hammond 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."

Adam, from Sheffield, has been staying at the Radisson Blu resort with his brother.

The pair were due to fly back to the UK with Monarch on Friday, but say they have "no idea whatsoever" about what will happen. He said he had received only "generic information" from the airline.

Adam, who declined to give his full name, said: "We have been kept in the dark a little bit. We've just been told all flights have been cancelled. A little bit of information would have been nice - just something."

Having visited last year he said: "It definitely feels different for me. The mood is a bit tense ... and it has dampened my mood a little bit.

"I am trying my hardest to keep it at the back of my mind."

Jared Ashworth, believed to be from Oldham, wrote on Twitter: "Currently on our 2nd day in Sharm. Looking at the news and wondering how much longer we have out here and if we will get home!"

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."

And Mr Hammond reiterated that he understood the frustrations of the Egyptian authorities about the decision to suspend flights, but said they understood it was taken out of "the best of motives" and that they had been "extremely co-operative".

Emergency screening is being put in place at the popular resort's airport to allow British nationals to be flown home after an inspection by UK experts resulted in all flights in and out of the popular Red Sea resort being halted.

The team was sent in by the Government after fresh 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.

A meeting of the emergency Cobra committee, chaired by the Prime Minister, decided to issue a warning against "all but essential" travel through the airport - effectively barring flights to and from the UK.

The move - angrily denounced by Egypt's foreign minister as a "premature and unwarranted" step that would smash its tourist industry - was announced as the country's president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi arrived in the UK for a scheduled visit.

He is due to hold talks with Mr Cameron at 10 Downing Street later today.

Mr Hammond said he recognised the potential "huge negative impact" but insisted ministers had no choice but to act on intelligence "which we believe represents a threat to British nationals".

He said his angry counterpart Sameh Shoukry "hasn't seen all the information that we have".

"While we regard the Egyptians as very important partners - and want to work with them not just on airport security but on all aspects of the development of their economy and the building of Anglo-Egyptian relations - when we see something which we believe represents a threat to British nationals we have to act on it and the other consequences have to be dealt with."

The decision was taken "very reluctantly", he said, and praised Egyptian authorities for "moving heaven and earth to meet our demands on the ground".

Officials are working with airlines to find a way to safely return people to the UK - either on their scheduled flight or earlier if they wish - although no flights are expected to leave before at least Friday.

The change in official Foreign Office travel advice applied only to the airport, with Sharm itself - where there are believed to be 20,000 Britons at present including a small proportion of ex-pats - still considered safe.

Mr Hammond apologised for the "immense disruption and inconvenience" caused - including to people who had been forced to return to hotels from the airport.

"I also recognise the immense impact that this will have on the Egyptian economy. But we have to put the safety and security of British nationals above all other considerations.

"When we are in possession of information we will not hesitate to act on it in order to protect that security and we will take whatever criticisms we receive."

The US also said initial intelligence suggested the plane - an Airbus operated by Metrojet and bound for St Petersburg carrying mostly Russian tourists - had been blown up by terrorists.

Cairo has sought to dismiss claims that the crash was the work of Islamist terrorists, such as the self-styled Islamic State (IS) and complained that the UK had acted before investigations were complete.

Mr Hammond said the Cobra meeting of senior ministers and security officials "reviewed all the information that we have available from a range of sources" about the plane crash.

"As a result of that review we have concluded there is a significant possibility that that crash was caused by an explosive device on board the aircraft," he said.

Downing Street said the information that prompted the move included "some that has recently come to light".

It was reported intercepted communications played some part in a preliminary US finding that a bomb had been planted on the aircraft by IS's Sinai affiliate - though there had been no formal conclusions drawn.