Reuters -- Egyptian Jetliner Disappears After Take-Off

[Bozita]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20040103/ts_nm/egypt_plane_dc

Top Stories - Reuters

Egyptian Jetliner Disappears After Take-Off

8 minutes ago

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian Boeing 737 airplane carrying 135 passengers and six crew disappeared minutes after take-off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt's official news agency MENA reported on Saturday.

 

Mena quoted an aviation ministry official as saying the plane "probably had an accident."

[Dookus]

1. this report says it crashed into the Red Sea

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040103/D7VR6NL80.html

[TreasonousBastard]

2. It was a charter...

and the Egyptians are saying there is no evidence of terrorism.

Back to sleep, everyone.

[RamboLiberal]

3. CNN reporting passengers are French Tourists

any tragedy is sad.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Blair and family are on holiday in Sharm el-Sheikh

but are 'safe and well'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/middle_east/3364795.stm

[ahimsa]

7. What a small world

A UK Government spokesman told the BBC that Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is on a family holiday in the Sharm el-Sheikh area, was safe and well.

Reports said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was due to meet Mr Blair there on Saturday

:tinfoilhat:

[daleo]

5. Reminiscent of the New York crash shortly after 911

Terror warnings,
terror warnings,
terror warnings,
...plane crash...nope not that one...
terror warnings,
terror warnings.

Repeat dosage as required.

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. Dumm Canuk Question - how can they rule out terrorism so quickly ?

.
.
. . The "denial" seems too quick, and with no survivors . .

hmmm - the BFEE wouldn't wanna admit they had their head up their collective as*es looking in the wrong direction ?

naaaaaah,

they have that infallible "intelligence" network

After all Egypt is too close to their Arabian cronies to be suspect

hmmm

[Newsjock]

8. The terror spin has started

Just listened to the 4am (EST) CBS radio news -- "if it isn't terrorism, then an extensive investigation is needed," the anchor says. CBS News terrorism expert so-and-so says..."

Now I'm just getting mad.

[joshcryer]

9. Given the area where it crashed.

I would think that terrorism could be likely.

[GermanDJ]

10. Pilot informed air traffic controller about technical problems

A correspondent informed us here on local radio that the pilot allegedly informed the control tower operator that some mechanical system(s) are malfunctioning. The correspondent interpreted this in a way that the mechanical problems were so severe that the airplane crashed immediately and no emergency call could be sent by the pilot.

[TrueStory]

13. "Mechanical problems" ??????

A pilot never says "mechanical problem" - this is to general, doesn't locate the fault and provides no information.

...and I was thinking I've heard somewhere this expression before couple of months ago.
...and here it is:

when Sergio Vieira de Mello - chief UN official was killed in a Baghdad bomb, he was supposed to meet US congressional delegation, but the meeting was postponed because of airplane "mechanical problems"

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/08/19/national1809EDT0747.DTL

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., had set up a meeting with Sergio Vieira de Mello, the chief U.N. official in Iraq, who was killed in the attack.

"I thought it was important to meet with the U.N. envoy and to discuss the U.N.'s role with the coalition forces in Iraq," Cantwell said.

But mechanical problems with the delegation's C-130 plane out of Jordan delayed the 1:30 p.m. meeting at coalition headquarters, Cantwell said, so she tentatively set up a telephone call with Vieira de Mello for later. The bomb went off at 4:30 p.m.

[VolcanoJen]

11. 148 Dead - Latest from Reuters

Egyptian Plane Crashes in Red Sea, 148 Dead

:-(

Excerpt:

Sat January 3, 2004 05:17 AM ET

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 eyewitnesses said they saw no sign of survivors.

The plane, operated by the Egyptian company Flash Airlines, disappeared from radar screens minutes after take-off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport at 9:44 p.m. EST/0244 GMT and crashed in deep water to the southeast, official sources said.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash but Civil Aviation Ministry Secretary-General Abo Ghanima said the plane appeared to have had an accident. "Until now there is no sign of terrorism," he said.

A French diplomat based in Egypt said there were 135 passengers aboard, all but one French, and 13 Egyptian and Moroccan crew members. "We are still waiting for more details," the diplomat added.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

14. Flash Airlines?

Yeaaaah, right. Not inspiring confidence in me, thanks.

[Algorem]

12. Cheney mowing down "frogs" now?

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040112&s=ireland

[goforit]

15. Wow!!!...what a lead!!...Wish we had the names of all who were on flight.

We may find an important motive here.

This guy is unbelievable. And I'm afraid we're gonna see more.

[goforit]

16. NYT report......Tony Blair vacationing in Egypt last day of air crash.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/04/international/middleeast/04PLAN.html?pagewanted=all>


Egyptian Charter Jet Crashes in Red Sea, Killing 148
By ELAINE SCIOLINO

Published: January 4, 2004


PARIS, Jan. 3 — An Egyptian charter plane carrying 148 people, most of them French tourists, plunged into the Red Sea before dawn Saturday, killing all on board.

<snip>

In Cairo, Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher quickly ruled out terrorism, saying the crash "is absolutely not the result of a terrorist act, but is linked to a technical failure of the plane."

The Egyptian authorities did not explain why they were so sure so soon that the cause of the crash was purely technical.

In Paris, Transport Minister Gilles de Robien was slightly less categorical, although he refused to speculate that it could be a terrorist act. "We are largely working on the theory that this was an accident," Mr. de Robien said. "Nothing indicates that there could have been any other cause."

However, Justice Minister Dominique Perben asked prosecutors to open a preliminary criminal investigation, and the Foreign Ministry offered to send a team to help investigate the crash.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[Moderator]

17. goforit

Per DU copyright rules
please post only 4
paragraphs from the
news source.

Thank you.

DU Moderator

[AromaticSocks]

18. Check the voice recorder

Remember the Egyptian plane that splashed off the US East coast?

The last words of the co-pilot were "God is great" while the pilot was in the loo.