Shropshire tourist stuck in Egypt after terror alert

All UK flights to and from the Egyptian resort were suspended amid concerns from Downing Street that the Russian plane that crashed in the Sinai region was brought down by an "explosive device".

UK security experts were sent to Egypt to ensure passengers flying to and from the resort are safe.

Helen Yates is one of up to 15,000 British tourists who are in the resort and face confusion about when they can return home.

The Telford woman was on holiday for a week in the resort with her partner Alan Weston.

Speaking last night, she said: "We've been told to head to the airport as normal so we are leaving soon.

"I have a feeling the chances of us flying home soon are pretty slim.

"We want someone to give us some information. Apart from news websites no one seems to be telling us anything and the hotel are really unhelpful."

The Russian Metrojet plane was en route from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg when it crashed 23 minutes after take-off. Most of the 224 people on board were Russians flying home from holiday. At least 140 bodies have been retrieved from the crash site.

Metrojet has suspended all flights of Airbus A321 jets in its fleet after the disaster.

EasyJet has promised a refund to anyone who has booked flights with it to Sharm over the next fortnight.

Local travel agent Ros Walsh, who works at Travel Counsellors in Oakengates, Telford, said: "We have nobody in the near future who is due to go out to Sharm el-Sheikh and we don't have anyone who is out there at the moment.

"As a company, what we have been doing is, everybody who is in Sharm or is about to go has had a phone call from each of our travel advisers to check what is going on. We are keeping in close contact as a company."

Vicky Edwards, manager at Polka Dot Travel, which has branches in Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Wrexham, said the company does not have any holiday makers in Egypt at the moment but that those planned to travel in the coming days have been given alternative holidays.

She said: "We have got some customers who were due to travel to Egypt in the next few days and we have changed their holidays over.

"We have also contacted customers who will be going up until November 12 to advise them of the situation as it stands."

Mrs Edwards was in Tunisia on holiday with her family when terrorists struck earlier this year and said she understood first hand the concerns holidaymakers could have. She said: "I can appreciate the concerns customers might have."

Claire Moore, a director at Peakes Travel Elite in Shrewsbury, was in Egypt on the day the Russian airliner crashed. She said the company does not currently have any tourists in, or scheduled to be in Egypt.

Mrs Moore said there had been a noticeable increase in security at Sharm airport when she left. She said: "

After Tunisia the Foreign Office advice was not to travel to the country and you kind of expect that is what is coming for Sharm.

"The locals are obviously worried because it is their livelihood but the consulate needs to keep people safe and do whatever is required to do that."

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has predicted that more countries will suspend flights to Sharm el-Sheikh as efforts continued to bring thousands of stranded British tourists home. He said the Government had been forced to take a "precautionary approach" by growing evidence that a bomb downed a Russian passenger plane in Egypt last week.

Emergency screening is being put in place at the Red Sea holiday resort's airport to allow UK nationals to be flown home, after an inspection by UK experts identified serious security flaws.

The decision to suspend air links – taken at a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee last night – has been angrily denounced by Egypt's foreign minister.

In a round of interviews, Mr Hammond confirmed Egyptian president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi – who is in the UK for a scheduled visit and will hold talks with David Cameron – had not been notified in advance.