http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/01/03/egypt.airliner/index.html
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (CNN) -- Rescue and recovery teams worked through the night in the deep waters of the Red Sea off the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where a charter plane crashed Saturday with 152 people on board.
Nearly all of those on the Flash Airlines flight from the resort to Cairo and then on to Paris were French tourists, officials said, and rescue officials expected to find no one alive.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and Civil Aviation Minister Ahmed Mohamed Shafiq Zaki quickly denied any terrorist involvement, saying the crash appeared to have resulted from a technical problem.
In a news conference carried live by Egyptian television Maher called the crash a "tragic accident."
Aviation officials said the aircraft did not make a distress call, but French Transport Secretary Dominique Bussereau said the plane apparently tried to turn back toward Sharm el-Sheikh shortly before it went down.
The Boeing 737 vanished from radar five minutes after taking off at 4:45 a.m. Saturday (9:45 p.m. Friday ET) from Sharm el-Sheikh, airline officials said.
Aboul Fath of the South Sinai Association for Diving and Marine Activities said the aircraft went down in an area of the Red Sea over the Syrian-African rift, a deep 75 million-year-old crack in the earth.
He said the bulk of the wreckage settled at a depth of 800 to 1,000 meters (2,600 to 3,300 feet), which has made diving difficult.
Fath said his organization was on the scene by about 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. and had been working all day with assistance from the Egyptian military. More than 40 boats are on the water, he said, and their lights were clearly visible in the evening hours from shore.
Egyptian passport officials said 136 of the passengers were French, seven were Egyptian and one each were Japanese and Moroccan. The plane carried a crew of seven.
Earlier, Egyptian and French officials had lower counts on the number of people aboard, but Egyptian customs and passport officials said 152 passports were recorded for the flight.
In Paris, distraught family members arrived at a crisis center set up at a hotel near Charles de Gaulle Airport, where the plane was scheduled to land around 9 a.m. (3 a.m. ET). France has offered to help with the investigation. (Full story)
Searchers initially located some of the plane's debris in the waters about eight miles (11 km) south of the seaside airport, according to officials with Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry.
Flash Airlines operates two Boeing 737s and is part of Flash Group, which offers vacation packages across Egypt, including Sharm el-Sheikh -- a popular vacation spot, especially for Europeans during the winter months.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his family are vacationing in Sharm el-Sheikh, according to a Downing Street spokesman.
CNN's Sandy Petrykowski in Sharm el-Sheikh, Jim Bittermann in Paris, and CNN Radio's Ninette Sosa contributed to this report.
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (CNN) -- Rescue and recovery teams worked through the night in the deep waters of the Red Sea off the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where a charter plane crashed Saturday with 152 people on board.
Nearly all of those on the Flash Airlines flight from the resort to Cairo and then on to Paris were French tourists, officials said, and rescue officials expected to find no one alive.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and Civil Aviation Minister Ahmed Mohamed Shafiq Zaki quickly denied any terrorist involvement, saying the crash appeared to have resulted from a technical problem.
In a news conference carried live by Egyptian television Maher called the crash a "tragic accident."
Aviation officials said the aircraft did not make a distress call, but French Transport Secretary Dominique Bussereau said the plane apparently tried to turn back toward Sharm el-Sheikh shortly before it went down.
The Boeing 737 vanished from radar five minutes after taking off at 4:45 a.m. Saturday (9:45 p.m. Friday ET) from Sharm el-Sheikh, airline officials said.
Aboul Fath of the South Sinai Association for Diving and Marine Activities said the aircraft went down in an area of the Red Sea over the Syrian-African rift, a deep 75 million-year-old crack in the earth.
He said the bulk of the wreckage settled at a depth of 800 to 1,000 meters (2,600 to 3,300 feet), which has made diving difficult.
Fath said his organization was on the scene by about 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. and had been working all day with assistance from the Egyptian military. More than 40 boats are on the water, he said, and their lights were clearly visible in the evening hours from shore.
Egyptian passport officials said 136 of the passengers were French, seven were Egyptian and one each were Japanese and Moroccan. The plane carried a crew of seven.
Earlier, Egyptian and French officials had lower counts on the number of people aboard, but Egyptian customs and passport officials said 152 passports were recorded for the flight.
In Paris, distraught family members arrived at a crisis center set up at a hotel near Charles de Gaulle Airport, where the plane was scheduled to land around 9 a.m. (3 a.m. ET). France has offered to help with the investigation. (Full story)
Searchers initially located some of the plane's debris in the waters about eight miles (11 km) south of the seaside airport, according to officials with Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry.
Flash Airlines operates two Boeing 737s and is part of Flash Group, which offers vacation packages across Egypt, including Sharm el-Sheikh -- a popular vacation spot, especially for Europeans during the winter months.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his family are vacationing in Sharm el-Sheikh, according to a Downing Street spokesman.
CNN's Sandy Petrykowski in Sharm el-Sheikh, Jim Bittermann in Paris, and CNN Radio's Ninette Sosa contributed to this report.
Warned. - XIII 
