Sharm

Just heard on the BBC news that a plane carrying 150 French has crased into
the Red Sea off Sharm. No survivirs apparently!

Eddie


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Egyptian airliner crashes into sea

An Egyptian charter plane has crashed into the Red Sea, killing all 148
passengers and crew on board, Egyptian aviation and airline officials say.
The plane went down shortly after leaving the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Nearly all the passengers were French tourists returning from holiday to
Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

Junior French transport minister Dominique Bussereau said the plane crashed
while trying to turn round after developing a fault on take-off.

Egyptian aviation officials have also said initial findings suggested the
crash was caused by technical failure.

The plane had landed an hour earlier carrying Italian tourists
The emergency services were alerted when the plane, a Boeing 737 belonging
to Egyptian charter company Flash Airlines, disappeared from radar screens
shortly after take-off at 0244 GMT.

There was no distress call from the plane to the control tower.

Egyptian search and rescue teams in boats and helicopters have found
wreckage in the sea about 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of Sharm
el-Sheikh.

At least one body has so far been pulled from the water, the official Middle
East News Agency (Mena) reported.

There were 135 passengers and 13 crew members on board the flight, which was
on its way to Cairo for a stopover and crew change before heading on to
Paris.

Distraught and weeping relatives of crew members gathered at the Flash
Airline office in Cairo.

And in Paris, airport officials were comforting families and friends who had
turned up to meet the flight.

The French President, Jacques Chirac, has expressed his deepest sympathies
to the families of the victims.

Mr Chirac has also telephoned his Egyptian counterpart, Hosni Mubarak, "to
get a total picture on the circumstances of the tragedy," his office said.

The aircraft had brought a group of Italian passengers to Sharm el-Sheikh
and took off an hour later with the French holiday-makers on board.

The crash comes amid increased alerts about possible terrorist threats that
have led to tightened security and cancelled flights around the world.

Flash Airlines
Private Egyptian charter aviation company
Operates two Boeing 737-300s - both manufactured in 1993
Planes equipped with the latest navigational instruments, company says
Pilots have a minimum of 5,000 hours flying time, company says

However, the Egyptian aviation ministry in Cairo said the crash was probably
an accident and ruled out an explosion.

"Until now there is no sign of terrorism," the ministry's Secretary-General
Hassan Abo Ghanima told Reuters.

A witness told Egyptian television that people had heard a loud noise at the
time of the crash but he thought that was the sound of the plane hitting the
water.

"In the morning we were surprised by a kind of slapping noise in the sea, a
very loud noise," the man said.

The weather was clear in Sharm el-Sheikh, airport officials said.

Sharm el-Sheikh is a popular Red Sea tourist resort that also often plays
host to political and economic summits.

Tourism is Egypt's main foreign currency earner, producing about $4bn a year
and accounting for 11% of GDP.

"F9" <spiritus@thefreeinternet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:ufyJb.8316$tQ6.92057@wards.force9.net...
> Egyptian airliner crashes into sea
>
> Egyptian search and rescue teams in boats and helicopters have found
> wreckage in the sea about 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of Sharm
> el-Sheikh.

Anyone know what sort of depth the wreck will be in?

In article <bt734r$sm6$1$8300dec7@news.demon.co.uk>,
graham@websitenamePalehorizon.com says...
>
> "F9" <spiritus@thefreeinternet.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:ufyJb.8316$tQ6.92057@wards.force9.net...
> > Egyptian airliner crashes into sea
> >
> > Egyptian search and rescue teams in boats and helicopters have found
> > wreckage in the sea about 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of Sharm
> > el-Sheikh.
>
> Anyone know what sort of depth the wreck will be in?
>
>
>
Egyptian search and rescue teams - in boats, planes and helicopters -
have found wreckage in the sea off the Naama Bay area of Sharm el-
Sheikh.

Police speedboats have been fishing luggage and small pieces of wreckage
from the water, and at least one body has been recovered.

Local divers say the plane came down in very deep water, perhaps too
deep to recover either the majority of the dead or the black box flight
recorder, reports the BBC's Paul Wood in Cairo.

On Sat, 3 Jan 2004 18:54:20 -0000, "Graham Skelly"
<graham@websitenamePalehorizon.com> wrote:

>
>"F9" <spiritus@thefreeinternet.co.uk> wrote in message
>news:ufyJb.8316$tQ6.92057@wards.force9.net...
>> Egyptian airliner crashes into sea
>>
>> Egyptian search and rescue teams in boats and helicopters have found
>> wreckage in the sea about 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of Sharm
>> el-Sheikh.
>
>Anyone know what sort of depth the wreck will be in?
>
French TV talks of depths around 150m
John

> >Anyone know what sort of depth the wreck will be in?
> >
> French TV talks of depths around 150m
> John

More like a 1000 metres.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/3366229.stm

Going to make recovery of bodies still in the plane (if any) very
difficult. It will be hard to get the flight recorder too. That will
certainly be on the bottom.

This is very sad. I really do hope that it was not caused by terrorist
action. It's going to be bad enough for the Egyptians anyway.

"John R. Macdonald" <scubajohn@remove.claranet.fr> wrote in message
news:s67evvsjcssqtblo67v2jdft071242ltr6@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 3 Jan 2004 18:54:20 -0000, "Graham Skelly"
> <graham@websitenamePalehorizon.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >"F9" <spiritus@thefreeinternet.co.uk> wrote in message
> >news:ufyJb.8316$tQ6.92057@wards.force9.net...
> >> Egyptian airliner crashes into sea
> >>
> >> Egyptian search and rescue teams in boats and helicopters have found
> >> wreckage in the sea about 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of Sharm
> >> el-Sheikh.
> >
> >Anyone know what sort of depth the wreck will be in?
> >
> French TV talks of depths around 150m
>

This mornings BBC news gave 900 metres. French sending an ROV or something
similar it seems.

Eddie


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In article <a995e664.0401040112.468ccc2f@posting.google.com >,
tony_dwyer@yahoo.co.uk says...
> > >Anyone know what sort of depth the wreck will be in?
> > >
> > French TV talks of depths around 150m
> > John
>
> More like a 1000 metres.
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/3366229.stm
>
> This is very sad. I really do hope that it was not caused by terrorist
> action. It's going to be bad enough for the Egyptians anyway.
>
likely cause is "technical failure"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3366605.stm

quote: "The Egyptian airline whose plane crashed on Saturday was banned
from flying to Switzerland because of safety concerns, Swiss officials
say."

They are a bit slow in taking their crew photos off the Flash Airlines
website, although they make a point of letting everyone know that:

"Flash Airlines both aircrafts are insured for legal and third party
liability and passenger, liability by El Shark Insurance Company for an
amount of 550 Millions USD for each aircraft."

Pass them a claim form someone :(

Latest news on the black boxes:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/3371747.stm


"Eddie" <Eddie@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:bt8mp5$i4b$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
>
> "John R. Macdonald" <scubajohn@remove.claranet.fr> wrote in message
> news:s67evvsjcssqtblo67v2jdft071242ltr6@4ax.com...
> > On Sat, 3 Jan 2004 18:54:20 -0000, "Graham Skelly"
> > <graham@websitenamePalehorizon.com> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >"F9" <spiritus@thefreeinternet.co.uk> wrote in message
> > >news:ufyJb.8316$tQ6.92057@wards.force9.net...
> > >> Egyptian airliner crashes into sea
> > >>
> > >> Egyptian search and rescue teams in boats and helicopters have found
> > >> wreckage in the sea about 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of Sharm
> > >> el-Sheikh.
> > >
> > >Anyone know what sort of depth the wreck will be in?
> > >
> > French TV talks of depths around 150m
> >
>
> This mornings BBC news gave 900 metres. French sending an ROV or something
> similar it seems.
>
> Eddie
>
>
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