'Many dead' in Russian plane crash including 17 children - Egypt aviation official

The head of Egypt's civil aviation authority said there were "many dead" including 17 children in a Russian passenger plane crash in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday.

"There are many dead," Mahmud al-Zinati told AFP, adding that 17 children were among the casualties tallied by rescue workers on the ground where the plane went down with 224 people on board.

Earlier today, AFP reported a Russian plane with 224 people on board crashed in a mountainous part of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

Ambulances reached the site and began evacuating "casualties," officials and state media reported, without elaborating on their condition.

The plane took off early Saturday from the southern Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh bound for Saint Petersburg in Russia but communication was lost 23 minutes after departure, officials said.

"Military planes have discovered the wreckage of the plane... in a mountainous area, and 45 ambulances have been directed to the site to evacuate dead and wounded," a cabinet statement said.

Officials and the state MENA news agency later said the "casualties" were being transferred to nearby hospitals.