NEWS: Egyptian Charter Plane Crashes into Red Sea

EGYPTIAN PLANE MISSING

An Egyptian charter plane with 135 passengers and six crew members on board has crashed into the Red Sea - all are feared dead.


It happened shortly after take off from the coastal resort of Sharm el- Sheikh, Cairo airport officials said.

Most of the passengers were French tourists, they added.

More follows

[Edited on 3-1-2004 by Nerdling]

[Edited on 3-1-2004 by Nerdling]

[Edited on 3-1-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

Crashed, confirmed.
135 passengers on board, mostly French tourists.

www.reuters.co.uk...

More coming.

-B.

French tourists??!?! Oh #! Could it be terrorism related?

[Edited on 3-1-2004 by Ocelot]

shortly after takeoff- quite possibly terrorism, could be another shoulder held missile job.

www.cnn.com...

It was a plane operated by Air Flash. Nothing about what caused it to go down. Crashed 7 minutes after takeoff.
Confirmed 135 on board, 127 passengers and eight crew.

-B.

Very bad area too, the red sea is well within the SAM sites of 4 different countries, i'd say this was either accident or terrorism, i'm tempted to say terrorism due to the proximity but i'm sure we'll have details as they emerge.

Is what I am looking for in an ATS News Site! GODD WORK Nerdling!

IF this is terroist related this could be the "beginning" of the great ass kicking the "chatter" has been speaking of yes?

PEACE...
m...

More coming in....
www.globeandmail.com...

But an initial statement from the Ministry of Civil Aviation called the crash an �accident� and said crews were searching for the wreckage. It gave no ideas on the possible cause.

Government sources are calling it an accident, which probably eliminates SAMs or anything fired from the ground.
No word from any eyewitnesses that I can find yet.

-B.

Tony Blair's in the Sharm -el -Sheikh area, where it happened, on holiday with his family.

Originally posted by kegs
Tony Blair's in the Sharm -el -Sheikh area, where it happened, on holiday with his family.

kegs, do you have a link to that story?
That's VERY interesting....

-B.

It's mentioned at the bottom of this BBC report. He's been there since before Christmas. Wondering if there's any symbolic connection myself...

news.bbc.co.uk...



[Edited on 3-1-2004 by kegs]

Originally posted by kegs
It's mentioned at the bottom of this BBC report. Wondering if theres any symbolic connection myself...

news.bbc.co.uk...

Hrrrrmmmm.
www.jpost.com.../JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1073026146009&p=1008596981749
He left Egypt to visit Jordan today.

-B.

Hrrrrmmmm x2.

Didn't know that. Wonder why the BBC reported it as if he was still there.

If his leaving TODAY was in his original plans or if they had some of this "very specific" intel that "caused" him to leave today?

Speculation running rampant...

PEACE...
m...

I just picked this up from Debka:

"All 148 passengers and crew believe to have died when chartered Egyptian Air Flash airliner crashed in Red Sea Saturday minutes after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh. Plane carrying 129 French passengers, 6 Egyptians and 6-man crew was bound for Paris via Cairo. Plane disappeared from screens without signal from pilot 11 km south of Sharm airport over Sinai. Cause of disaster unknown."

Not being paranoid, but it strikes me as odd that if it was a mechanical failure why didnt the pilot send a Mayday? Of course it seems no one actually knows what happened at the moment.

Update:
www.guardian.co.uk...
141 people, 135 passengers and 6 crew, were on board the flight. 129 were French tourists.
No distress signal from the plane. The weather was clear and no other planes had any troubles.

Also,

Local news media reported Saturday that vacationing British Prime Minister Tony Blair was to meet there later in the day with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

No word on whether he was scheduled to be in Jordan Friday & Saturday, or if he was returning to Egypt because of the crash.

-B.

The BBC is now saying he was due to meet Hosni Mubarak there today (Saturday), so he must have been in Jordan just for the one day, so perhaps he is back in the Sharm -el -Sheikh area now and that�s why the BBC reported it like that and a government spokesman's made a statement saying he's fine.



I've had a little hunch lately since a few 'crashes' in Iraq were initially reported to be mechanical failures and such, and a few days later revealed rather quietly as being shot down, that it is a tactic to lessen the initial perceived 'blow' to the coalition and the triumphalism of those responsible, to take away some of their glory and lessen the initial effect on the public. Just a hunch though I wouldn't be surprised if the story on this changes in a few days.

THat is damn GOOD thinking! It makes total sense to tell a "tale" of mechanical malfunction at first.

The terrorist's main goal is to cause us to lose heart in our efforts and scare us into submission...

It must REALLY chap their asses to see their "glory" reduced to a bad rivet huh?

PEACE...
m...

The tactic of revealing it as a malfunction at first is not reasonable if they know that the plane was shot down.
You have to remember that this is an Egyptian airline carrying French tourists - basically a Muslim carrier with people onboard whose government opposed any "holy" war. If the plane was shot down, it is basically a coup for those who oppose Al Qaeda as it further marginalizes them.

This incident is not comparable with Iraq as US forces are seen in a totally different light and are fighting a totally different enemy.

[Edited on 3-1-2004 by Leveller]

It was a simple crash. Not the first time egyptian machines are crashing. Happened in 2002 and 2003 and killed several hundred people.

An eyewitness who travelled with the plane before said the plane looked rather dirty and not properly maintained. The crew was good and take-off & landing went properly but he felt unsecure.
As the machine was from 1993 and before bought from a spanish airline it might be just badly maintained.