A Russian passenger airliner crashed Saturday in the Sinai, Egypt's Prime Minister Sharif Ismail said in a statement.

The Prime Minister is meeting with ministers and security officials regarding the crash. Russian state media reported that the plane was carrying 224 people.

The Northern Sinai medical department declared a state of emergency, according to the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper. Al-Ahram repored that more than 20 ambulances had been directed to the crash site, between the villages of Al-Kuntillah and Al-Kaseema in central Sinai.

Plane "Vanished" from Radars 23 Minutes After Take-off

Earlier Saturday, Egyptian air traffic control said it had lost control with the Russian airliner, which was en route from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, Russia, according to Sputnik news, an official Russian news agency.

"A source in Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency told RIA Novosti that Kogalymavia Flight 9268, an Airbus 321 carrying 217 passengers and seven crew members, took off from Sharm El-Sheikh at 3:31 GMT and vanished from the radars after 23 minutes of flight," Sputnik reported.

Russia's Foreign Ministry reported on its official Facebook page that staff at the Russian embassy in Egypt were monitoring the situation. The page, quoting Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, said more information would be released as soon as it was available.

More information is expected soon from the from the Egyptian Prime Minister's office, as well.