By Ashley Halsey III November 6  

 
People mourn as they lay flowers in memory of the plane crash victims at Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square in St. Petersburg. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

As investigators search for the cause of a plane crash that killed 224 people over the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday and Russia suspends all flights to Egypt, U.S. officials said they are taking unspecified precautionary measures to enhance the security of flights from the Middle East.
“While the facts and circumstances surrounding the tragic October 31 crash of Metrojet Flight 9268 on the Sinai Peninsula are still under investigation, Transportation Security Administrator (TSA) Peter Neffenger and I, out of an abundance of caution, have identified a series of interim, precautionary enhancements to aviation security with respect to commercial flights bound for the United States from certain foreign airports in the region,” Jeh C. Johnson, secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement.

Johnson said the enhancements, also adopted by European aviation authorities, “are designed to provide an additional layer of security for the traveling public, and will be undertaken in consultation with relevant foreign governments and relevant passenger and cargo airlines.”
[Russia halts Eygpt flights amid widening probe into plane crash]

They include expanded screening and other “seen and unseen” security measures.