EGYPT: FRENCH DIVERS MAY HAVE DETECTED A SIGNAL FROM THE EGYPTIAN PLANE WHICH CRASHED INTO THE RED SEA

Record ID: 646916

  • Title: EGYPT: FRENCH DIVERS MAY HAVE DETECTED A SIGNAL FROM THE EGYPTIAN PLANE WHICH CRASHED INTO THE RED SEA
  • Date: 6th January 2004
  • Summary: (U4) SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT (JANUARY 6, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL WHERE REMAINS OF VICTIMS HAVE BEEN BROUGHT / AMBULANCE DRIVING INTO GROUNDS 0.12 2. SV CITY COUNCIL OF SHARM EL-SHEIKH 0.15 3. MCU (English) FRENCH AMBASSADOR JEAN-CLAUDE COUSSERAN SAYING: "He is here for co-ordination of all the French capacities developed now on the ground. But it is too early now to...the intent is to work with the Egyptians and to continue the work on the ground."/COUSSERAN LEAVING BUILDING 1.07 4. SLV CAR DRIVES AWAY 1.13 5. MCU (English) FRENCH ADMIRAL SAYING: "We just arrived this morning and I would say our mission is, I would say to help every people, to do what is the work. So, to search for what we have to look for and to organise a bit all the stuff we have to do there." 1.38 6. MCU (Arabic) GOVERNOR MOHAMMED AFIFI SAYING: "We haven't found the black box yet. The crash was probably due to technical problems." 2.48 7. SLV/LV OF TOURISTS IN SHARM EL-SHEIK (3 SHOTS) 3.08 8. SLV/LV TOURISTS RIDING HORSES (2 SHOTS) 3.24 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 21st January 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT
  • Country: Egypt
  • Reuters ID: LVA5ELU20TY9JF8PZ4HV9T3XB82X
  • Story Text: French divers may have detected a signal
    from the Egyptian plane which crashed last Saturday.




    French divers may have detected a signal from the
    flight recorder of an Egyptian plane which crashed into the
    Red Sea, but French sources could not confirm an Egyptian
    report that the device had been found.

    The "black boxes", which record technical data about
    the flight and conversations between pilots, should help
    explain what caused the crash, which killed all 148 people
    on board, including 133 French tourists.

    Once they are sure of the location, French salvage
    experts plan to use a submersible robot to retrieve the
    flight recorders of the plane, which crashed on Saturday
    (January 3) into deep water off the Egyptian resort of
    Sharm el-Sheikh.

    The fuselage and most of the bodies are now believed to
    lie at a depth of about 400 metres (1,300 feet).

    French officials could not confirm a report by Egypt's
    official Middle East News Agency (MENA) that French divers
    had located a flight recorder and the exact position of the
    Paris-bound Boeing 737.

    France said on Monday (January 5) it attached little
    credence to a previously unknown Islamic group's claim to
    have brought down the plane. Egypt has ruled out an attack.

    Egypt has defended the safety record of Flash Airlines,
    operators of the plane, but Switzerland has said it banned
    the Egyptian company from its airspace on safety grounds.

    Swiss authorities said on Monday they had found two
    Flash aircraft unsafe in 2002, raising the possibility that
    one was the plane that crashed on Saturday. Flash officials
    were not immediately available for comment.

    But they have said the doomed plane was one of only two
    that Flash has operated in recent years, including all of
    2002. Swiss officials could not confirm positively that it
    was one of those they had inspected.



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