Free Republic

Egypt Plane Crash Kills 148; Technical Fault Blamed By Ruben Sprich Reuters Saturday, January 3, 2004; 7:15 AM SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - An Egyptian Boeing 737 airliner carrying 135 mostly French tourists crashed into the Red Sea off the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday and a rescue team member said there were no survivors. "The initial indications are that it was a technical fault, but that is only preliminary," Civil Aviation Ministry Secretary-General Hassan Abo Ghanima told Reuters. He had said earlier: "There is no sign of terrorism." The plane, operated by the Egyptian company Flash Airlines,...

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- A charter airliner with 135 people aboard - most of them French tourists - crashed into the Red Sea shortly after takeoff early Saturday from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, according to airport officials in Cairo. No survivors were immediately found. The Boeing 737 jet took off shortly before 5 a.m. (10 p.m. EST) and quickly disappeared from radar about seven miles south of the airport, airport officials said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. The officials said 127 passengers and eight crew members were aboard the jet operated by the private Egyptian company Air Flash...

Local news just flashed that an Egypt Airliner has crashed in Egypt... Reporting majority of ~135 passengers are French tourists....

Terrorism fears continued to disrupt international air travel as officials scrambled to determine the circumstances surrounding the fatal crash of an Egyptian charter plane. All 135 passengers, most of them French tourists, and six crew members died when the plane crashed in the Red Sea shortly after take-off from Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh resort, charter company Flash Air and airport officials said. "It is possible that the plane could have had an accident," Egypt's official MENA news agency said, quoting civil aviation officials. The aviation authority added in a statement that the plane was heading to Cairo, although Egyptian official television...

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian Boeing 737 airliner has crashed into the Red Sea after take-off from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 135 passengers and six crew, an aviation ministry source says. The source said 127 of the passengers on the plane, bound for Cairo, were French. Egypt's official news agency MENA said the plane disappeared shortly after take-off at 2.44 a.m. British time on Saturday. It crashed into the sea seven miles south of Sharm el-Sheikh, a popular diving and swimming resort at the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula, the source said. An official of Flash...