ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) – In a massive outpouring of grief, thousands of people flocked to St. Petersburg’s airport Sunday, laying flowers, soft toys and paper planes next to the pictures of the victims of the crash of a passenger jet in Egypt that killed all 224 on board in Russia’s deadliest air crash to date.
“I can’t remain indifferent, there were so many people from St. Petersburg on the plane,” said Yelena Vikhareva, a 48-year old sales clerk who came to the airport with her son. “The pain is piercing the heart.”
Most of the victims, except for four Ukrainians and one Belarusian, were Russian, and the majority came from St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city.
Metrojet’s A321-200 crashed over the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday morning, 23 minutes after it took off from Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, a popular destination for Russian tourists.
Flags across Russia were flying half-staff on Sunday, the nationwide day of mourning declared by President Vladimir Putin, and Russian Orthodox priests conducted services to pray for the victims.