Mourning for Siberian victims of the tragic Egyptian air crash

Kogalymavia airline began its operations in Siberia, and now crew and passengers are among the victims of a disaster which experts are analysing for signs that it was caused by terrorists rather than mechanical failure.

Svetlana Radionova, who studied with Irina in Novosibirsk, paid tribute to her friend, one of 224 killed on Saturday soon after the Airbus A321 had taken off from Sharm el-Sheikh bound for St Petersburg.

'We lived in one room in a dormitory at the centre for training and certification of aviation personnel. She was like a 'running engine'. She had time to be everywhere. And most importantly, I never saw her without a smile. Always joking and laughing. 

'We all could not wait to start flying. We had interviews at the airlines, a few people were taken to Transaero, others - to Ural Airlines, including Irina. But she decided not to go to Yekaterinburg. She went directly to Moscow and settled in at Kogalymavia.'

She planned to marry a colleague who she met at the airline. Another friend Alyona Zhivaeva told MK that on the tragic day the plane crashed, her boyfriend was waiting for her at Pulkovo airport in St Petersburg. He was also a steward with  Kogalymavia.

'They wanted to get married in the summer, but  they could not find the time,' she said. 'They were always working. They were officially engaged, he gave her a ring. I was so happy for them. Ira did not want to organise a wedding, she just wanted to run to the registrar and back. But Ilya wanted everything to be right.'

Born and raised in Gorno-Altaisk in the Altai Republic, she worked in a jewellery shop before fulfilling her dream to work in the air. Now her mother and sister have travelled to St Petersburg to retrieve her body. Irina's cousin Yelena wrote on her social media page: 'Bring back the warmth of her breath, her smile and  words. Give me at least the sound of her footsteps.'

Another victims were an entire family from Nadym. Evgenia Kalinina, 64 and her daughter Elena, 29, moved to St Petersburg from Nadym few years ago. Elena married Sergei Zhimalenkov, 32, and Elena gave birth to a boy, Miron, in 2013. All four died in the crash.

Also killed was Anya Pakhar, 25, from Lesosibirsk. Her sister Elena, from Krasnoyarsk, said: 'Anya graduated the local Orthodox gymnasium, then went to Moscow to study in the Orthodox university and was preparing for her Ph.D. I still cannot believe in what has happened to her.' She died with her new husband Leonid Mantsakanov, 39, from St Petersburg.

Yulia Maslennikova, 27, moved from Barnaul to St Petersburg several years ago. She was killed with her boyfriend, leaving her daughter, aged seven,  without a mother. 

Kogalymavia - which flew under the name Metrojet - was founded in 1993, and initially its base was in Kogalym, Surgut and Nizhnevartovsk, all cities in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region of western Siberia, operating flights to and from Moscow. Later the airline switched focus to holiday charter flights.