Sinai plane crash: The victims

A picture of 10-month-old Darina Gromova looking at planes at St Petersburg's airport was placed in this memorial

Many of the 224 victims on board the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt's Sinai peninsula on Saturday were families - some with young children - returning home from holidays in the sun, according to the official passenger list (in Russian).

A large number of them shared the same last name, and it appears that in some cases three generations of the same family perished - in what is believed to be the worst air disaster involving a Russian plane.

Among the victims was Darina Gromova - a 10-month-old baby on her first foreign holiday with parents Aleksei and Tatiana.

A picture of her looking through a window at planes at St Petersburg's airport appeared on Instagram as the family prepared to fly to Egypt on 15 October. The caption read teasingly: "The main passenger".

Aleksey and Tatyana came to Egypt with a double celebration in mind: their first wedding anniversary and 10 months since their daughter was born, Russian media reports say. They young family had already celebrated in July at home and then decided to prolong their summer on the Red Sea.

Grieving grandmother Elena was later quoted as saying she had offered to babysit Darina in Russia - but the couple decided to take her to Egypt.

Darina was the youngest passenger on the ill-fated flight last Saturday.

'Goodbye Egypt'

Yuri Shein and his three-year-old daughter Anastasia were photographed by Yuri's wife Olga just as the family boarded the Airbus 321 in Sharm el-Sheikh.

People across Russia have been bringing flowers to mourn the victims of the air disaster - the worst in modern Russian history

"Hello Peter! Goodbye Egypt! We are going home!" the caption read - a reference to St Petersburg, where the plane was headed.

The family's last picture - posted online on 31 October - appeared on the front pages of Russian newspapers and was also widely used on social media sites after the crash.

The family was in Egypt to turn the 10th anniversary since they met and the fourth anniversary of their wedding into a one big holiday, reports say.

Profiles on social networks also show that among the victims were students and young professionals who had been holidaying on the Red Sea with friends.

"Never thought I would have so many positive emotions about Egypt," wrote Viktoria Sevryukova, who posted her holiday pictures on her page in V Kontakte - a popular social site in Russia.

"Would I like to live here - no. Would I like to come back - definitely," added the 24-year-old, who worked at a restaurant chain in St Petersburg.

Her picture was reposted by several of her friends with messages of shock and disbelief.

'Shock and loss'

Among those who perished was Anna Tishinskaya, a former programming director at the Jewish youth organisation Hillel in St Petersburg.

There were 25 children on board the ill-fated flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg

"This is a big shock and loss for us," Hillel wrote about the 27-year-old, who also founded the More (Sea) advertising agency.

Also on board the plane was Alexander Kopylov, the deputy mayor of the city of Pskov, and his wife Yelena Melnikova.

The official from the north-western Russian city reportedly booked the holiday in Egypt as a birthday present to his wife.

All but five victims were Russian nationals. Four Ukrainians and a Belarusian national are also confirmed to have died in the crash.

As the whole country mourned on Sunday, Russia's Dozhd TV channel published this video entitled: "Those who died in the air catastrophe. Their faces."

Many of the pictures in the footage show the happy holidaymakers in exotic locations around the globe.

Timeline: the course of flight KGL9268

05:58 Egyptian time (03:58 GMT): Flight leaves Sharm el-Sheikh, the Egyptian cabinet says in a statement

06:14 Egyptian time (04:14 GMT): Plane fails to make scheduled contact with air traffic control based in Larnaca, Cyprus, according to Sergei Izdolsky, an official with Russia's air transport agency

06:17 Egyptian time, approx (04:17 GMT): Plane comes down over the Sinai peninsula, according to Airbus

11:12 Egyptian time (09:12 GMT): Flight had been due to land in St Petersburg's Pulkovo airport