Search resumes for plane crash bodies
A flotilla of boats resumed searching today for flotsam and bodies from the charter jet of French tourists that crashed into the Red Sea, killing all 148 people aboard.
Rescue workers on military and civilian vessels have found only small pieces of wreckage and “very few” body parts, an official of Egypt’s Environment Protection Department said.
The Egyptian government has said yesterday morning’s crash was an accident apparently caused by a mechanical problem. It came amid worldwide security alerts for terror threats.
France’s Deputy Transportation Minister Dominique Bussereau told reporters that the pilot detected problems on takeoff and tried vainly to turn back.
The Environment Protection official said rescue workers believed the fuselage of the Boeing 737 was resting in 880 yards of water.
The search was called off last night but resumed at daybreak with four aircraft and 40 boats searching a four-square-mile expanse of sea east of Sharm-el-Sheik, a popular resort near the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula.
The governor of South Sinai, Mostafa Afifi, told Egyptian state television that the plane’s impact on the sea was such that everything shattered. “We can’t say that we have found bodies as bodies. We have found 11 to 13 bodies but in pieces,” he said.
A French investigation team was expected to arrive in Sharm later today. The United States is also sending an accident investigator.
“We are co-operating closely with the French side. They are our partners in this tragedy,” Egyptian Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafeeq told reporters.
Flash Airlines Flight FSH604 left Sharm el-Sheik bound for Paris with a stopover in Cairo. The weather was clear. The plane crashed into the Red Sea minutes later.
A French Foreign Ministry spokesman said there were 133 French tourists on the flight. One Japanese, one Moroccan, and 13 Egyptian crew members also were on the flight, Minister Shafeeq said.
French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin declared the nation in mourning.
Most of the passengers were on a tour organised by FRAM, one of France’s largest travel operators. FRAM said it had 125 people – mostly families or groups of friends – on the flight and some were children.
Minister Shafeeq said Saturday the plane checked out fine before takeoff.
“The first indications suggest a technical fault,” he said, saying the last communication with the plane was at 5,300 feet (1,590 meters).
According to the radar images, the plane turned left as normal after takeoff, then suddenly straightened out and turned right before plunging into the sea, one minute after its left turn, Shafeeq said.
Shafeeq said the depth of the water – at least 1,000ft – complicated retrieval efforts but some bodies, as well as aeroplane wreckage, were found. A marine official in a nearby port said at least 50 body parts were found.
Tourists in swimsuits watched from the beach as rescuers circled the waters in small boats looking for survivors. They found only bodies, body parts and debris, including suitcases, shoes, life preservers and small bits of plane wreckage.
Egypt’s Middle East News Agency reported that blood was seen in the water because sharks ate some victims.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was visiting Sharm el-Sheik, issued a statement of condolence.
