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Egyptian plane crashes into Red Sea, at least 141 people killed
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CAIRO (AFP) - An Egyptian plane carrying 135 mainly French tourists and at least six crew crashed into the Red Sea shortly after take-off from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all on board, officials said.


AFP-HO Photo



The crash came amid heightened air security, particularly by Britain, France and the United States, in the face of fears that a passenger airliner could be used for a terror attack.


"All people who were aboard the plane are dead," Osama al-Sayed, a senior official with the plane's owner Flash Air told reporters.


The plane disappeared from the radar screens of Cairo airport at 4:44 am (0244 GMT), minutes after taking off from the Red Sea resort's airport, the civil aviation authority said.


According to the Al-Ahram newspaper, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) was scheduled to go to Sharm el-Sheikh Saturday for talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites), who is holidaying there.


Airport officials said Egyptian naval and airforce units were conducting search operations, while the Egyptian news agency MENA reported that only one body had so far been pulled from the water.


"No survivors have been found after five hours of searching, and only one piece of airplane debris has been recovered," Sayed added.


The Boeing 737 had 129 French tourists on board and six Egyptian passengers, civil aviation authorities said.


State television said that in addition the plane carried a relief crew of seven as well as a working crew of six.


"The aircraft landed in Sharm el-Sheikh at 3:30 am (0130 GMT) carrying Italian tourists. It took off again an hour later with French tourists headed for France," the television said.


"Contact with the control tour was lost around 4:40 am (0240 GMT), a few minutes after take-off."


Pieces of wreckage from the plane were found in the sea about 15 kilometers (nine miles) south of Sharm el-Sheikh, civil aviation authorities said.


Flight 604 had been due to land at Paris Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport at 9.00 am (0800 GMT), the Paris airport authority said.


The French foreign ministry said its diplomatic services were on an emergency footing in both Paris and Cairo, seeking to find out the circumstances of the crash.


The crash came just days after a similar accident in the tiny West African state of Benin, when a plane owned by Guinean-based airline UTA skidded into the sea off the capital Cotonou, killing 139 people, many of them Lebanese.


Several British, French and Mexican flights to the United States have been cancelled in recent days.


Washington and London have been on heightened alert throughout the Christmas and New Year period because of fears of a terror attack, possibly an attempt by al-Qaeda to repeat the September 11 suicide plane attacks.





On December 28, the British government warned that an extremist attack could be in the final stages of preparation in Saudi Arabia and advised British nationals not to travel to the oil-rich kingdom.

The last major incident involving an Egyptian plane occurred in May 2002 when an Egyptair Boeing 735 crash-landed near Tunis, killing at least 14 people, although most people on board survived.

In October 1999, an Egyptair Boeing 767 crashed off the US Atlantic coast, killing all 217 people aboard. US investigators blamed the co-pilot.

[Thinkin' Gal]

The plane disappeared from the radar screens of Cairo airport at 4:44 am (0244 GMT), minutes after taking off from the Red Sea resort's airport, the civil aviation authority said.

~ the private Egyptian company Air Flash ~

I just made a comment about Sharm el Sheik's relationship to crashing and burning peace treaties, and then I saw this. *At the same time* the Concorde ("peace treaty") crashed and burned on take-off, it was announced that the Camp David II talks had failed...

Concorde flight AF4590 crashed shortly after take off from Charles De Gaulle aiport, outside Paris on July 25, 2000 at about 4:44 p.m.

http://www.cbc.ca/national/news/concorde/

Hmmm, I wonder what's going on in the peace treaty realm...

Maybe the answer is at post 64.

Egypt resumes Mideast referee role