A Russian plane carrying more than 200 people has crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, according to the Egyptian prime minister's office.

A "Russian civilian plane ... crashed in the central Sinai," the office of Prime Minister Sharif Ismail said in a statement on Saturday.

Egyptian search and rescue teams have found the site of the crashed Russian passenger plane in the Hassana area, south of Arish, Sinai, the civilian aviation ministry said.

The plane was at an altitude of 9,450m when it vanished from radar screens, the ministry said in a statement.

The pilot reportedly requested clearance for an emergency landing at Cairo airport due to a technical malfunction.

Russian media quoting aviation sources also reported that the plane had crashed.

Egyptian air traffic control lost contact with the civilian airliner shortly after it took off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to head to the Russian city of St Petersburg.

The plane, which is an Airbus 321, is operated by the Russian airline Kogalymavia, also known as Metro Jet.

A senior aviation official told the AFP news agency it was a charter flight operated by a Russian company and had on board 217 passengers and seven crew members.

Sharm el-Sheikh is popular with Russian tourists.

Initial reports were conflicting, as the chief of Egypt's state Aviation Accidents Commission, Ayman al-Moqdam, said the plane was safe in Turkish airspace.

Security sources in the Sinai Peninsula later confirmed reports that an aircraft was missing.

PHOTO CAPTION

On photo taken on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015, the Russian airline Kogalymavia’s Airbus A321 with a tail number of EI-ETJ on an airstrip of Moscow’s Domodedovo international airport, outside Moscow, Russia.

Al-Jazeera