WarSclerotic

British airliner ‘dodged missile’ over Sinai in August UK attributed the incident, in which projectile came within 1,000 feet of plane, to an Egyptian army drill

By Times of Israel staff

November 7, 2015, 8:38 am

Source: British airliner ‘dodged missile’ over Sinai in August | The Times of Israel

The crew of a British plane packed with holiday-makers heading for the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh managed to evade a missile over the peninsula in August, the Guardian reports.

The revelation comes a week after a Russian passenger plane came down shortly after takeoff from Sharm, killing all 224 people on board. Both British Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama have said that the St. Petersburg-bound airliner could have been brought down by a bomb.

The British government has confirmed that the Thomson Airways plane from London Stansted airport was “forced to take evasive action” on August 23 after the missile was spotted by the pilot some 1,000 feet (300 meters) away, the Guardian says. The plane was carrying 189 passengers at the time.

Britain’s transport ministry said it did not believe the missile was deliberately trying to target the plane, and instead attributed it to Egyptian military maneuvers.

“We investigated the reported incident … and concluded that it was not a targeted attack and was likely to be connected to routine exercises being conducted by the Egyptian military in the area at the time,” the paper quotes a government spokesperson as saying.

According to the Guardian, airlines are now banned from flying below 26,000 feet over Sinai due to fears that Islamic militants may be capable of bringing down a plane.

Thomson said that its staff reported the incident to the Department for Transport immediately upon landing in Sharm, “in line with established protocol.” The ministry found no reason at the time to discontinue flights to the Sinai resort.

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