Egypt Airliner CRASHED in Egypt - A final update on root cause analysis? Technical Fault Blamed

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, disappeared from radar screens minutes after take-off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport at 0244 GMT and crashed into deep water a few miles to the southeast, official sources said.

The pilots did not report any problem and the weather was normal with good visibility, official sources said. The plane was heading for Cairo to refuel, change crew and take on more passengers before flying on to Paris.

A French diplomat based in Egypt said there were 135 passengers aboard, all but one French, and 13 Egyptian and Moroccan crew members.

The crash coincided with intense U.S. concern about possible attacks involving civilian airliners, which has led to the cancellation of seven U.S.-bound flights in just over a week.

Egyptian military aircraft and ships, helped by small boats from nearby diving centers, launched a rescue operation at first light. Eyewitnesses said they were finding pieces of human bodies but no complete corpses and no survivors.

"We have half of a body here, half a body there. But we don't have any body in one piece," said a rescue worker, speaking by telephone from one of the boats.

"There's lots of personal stuff, small bags and toys. We have collected very small pieces of the plane but the body of the plane has sunk," said another rescue worker, who asked not to be named.

Yasser Imam, a spokesman for the local authorities, said: "What they have picked up so far is just fragments of bodies. The chances of finding complete bodies look slim because of the force with which the plane hit the surface of the water."

The plane crashed in the Strait of Tiran, between the Sinai peninsula and Saudi Arabia, where the water is hundreds of meters (feet) deep -- too deep for divers to reach the flight recording devices, diving school managers said.

French President Jacques Chirac telephoned his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak to obtain details of the crash and expressed his "deepest shock" at the tragedy, his office said.

Eyewitnesses in Sharm el-Sheikh said the rescue operation was concentrating on an area about half a mile off Naama Bay, the site of many large hotels.

An Egyptian armed forces C-130 transport plane and two helicopters were taking part in the search, witnesses said.

Flash Airlines is an Egyptian charter airline company based in Cairo and flying to European cities. It flew two Boeing 737-300 planes manufactured in 1993, according to its Web site.

The plane was maintained regularly in Norway and there was no sign of any mechanical fault before its last flight, the official Egyptian news agency MENA reported.

French Transport Minister Gilles de Robien went to Charles de Gaulle airport, where distraught friends and relatives of passengers on the flight were being told of the crash.

An eyewitness speaking on Egyptian television said people heard a loud noise at the time of the crash but he interpreted this as 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," said the unidentified witness.

Sharm el-Sheikh, a major diving resort, is considered one of the most secure places in Egypt because of its isolation and Mubarak's frequent presence. Police man checkpoints on the only paved roads into the resort and check travelers' identities.

The last major crash by an Egyptian plane took place in May 2002, when a Boeing 767 of the state airline EgyptAir crashed near Tunis airport, killing 15 people.

In October 1999, an EgyptAir Boeing 767 dived into the sea off Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 people on board.

On Christmas Day, a Beirut-bound Boeing 727 smashed into the Atlantic after take-off from Benin, killing 138 people.

Unknown Islamists claim Egyptian plane attack
Mon 5 January, 2004 15:19

CAIRO (Reuters) - An anonymous caller claiming to represent a previously unknown Islamic group says they brought down the Egyptian plane which crashed into the Red Sea on Saturday, killing 148 people.

The man told an international news agency in Cairo that the Yemen-based group Ansar al-Haq (Followers of the Truth) would also attack Air France planes unless the French government drops plans to ban Islamic headscarves from state schools.

There was no way to check the claim of the caller, who said he was an Egyptian member of the group.

The Egyptian government has ruled out a deliberate attack on the Boeing 737 charter plane, which crashed shortly after take-off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The dead included 133 French tourists.

http://krant.telegraaf.nl/krant/archief/20010926/fotos/bin.artikel.hrsid_11.jpg

http://krant.telegraaf.nl/krant/archief/20010926/teksten/bin.kalender.islamitische.html

September 26, 2001

Quote:

D E T E L E G R A A F B I N N E N L A N D

Opschudding in Almere over
islamitische kalender
Van een onzer verslaggevers

ALMERE - Een in Egypte gedrukte kalender met een afbeelding van een neerstortend vliegtuig met New York op de achtergrond, die eind mei - ruim 3 maanden voor de aanslag - bij of in een islamitische school in Almere zou zijn verspreid, heeft voor opschudding bij het gemeentebestuur gezorgd.

De gewraakte kalender.
Burgemeester Hans Ouwerkerk heeft gisteren naar aanleiding van de kalender, waarvan een exemplaar in het bezit kwam van deze krant, de zaak aangemeld bij de Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst (BVD).

Deze dienst stelt in een eerste reactie dat er geen direct verband is met de recente aanslagen in de Verenigde Staten. De afbeelding zou refereren aan de neergestorte EgyptAir-Boeing, die op 31 oktober 1999 door de piloot de oceaan ingevlogen werd. Bij deze zelfmoordaktie kwamen de 217 inzittenden om het leven. De laatste woorden van de piloot (”Ik steun op Allah - Om te sterven voor Allah”) zouden op de kalender aangehaald worden.

###
###

Google - Translation Tools - Quote:

D E T E L E G R A B A F I N N E N L A N D

Turmoil in Almere
Islamic calendar
From one of our reporters

ALMERE - An Egyptian calendar printed with an image of a plane crashing in New York in the background, in late May - more than 3 months before the attack - with or in an Islamic school in Almere would be distributed, has caused a stir at the municipal ensured.

The offending calendar.
Mayor Hans Ouwerkerk yesterday following the calendar, a copy of which came into the possession of this newspaper, the matter reported to the National Security Service (BVD).

This service enables a first response that there is no direct connection with the recent attacks in the United States. The image should refer to the crashed EgyptAir Boeing, on 31 October 1999 by the pilot was flown in the ocean. In this suicidal action came the 217 passengers were killed. The last words of the pilot (”I support in Allah - To die for Allah”) would be quoted on the calendar.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.