FRANCE: WORRIED RELATIVES SCOUR PASSENGER LIST FOR INFORMATION ON THOSE ON BOARD DOOMED EGYPT AIR FLIGHT

Record ID: 647499

  • Title: FRANCE: WORRIED RELATIVES SCOUR PASSENGER LIST FOR INFORMATION ON THOSE ON BOARD DOOMED EGYPT AIR FLIGHT
  • Date: 4th January 2004
  • Summary: (EU) PARIS, FRANCE (3 JANUARY 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR IBISS HOTEL, POLICE OUTSIDE; MV FIREMEN AND OTHER SUPPORT STAFF ACCOMPANYING RELATIVES INSIDE HOTEL (4 SHOTS) 0.19 2. (SOUNDBITE) (French) MOHAMMED HJIAJ SAYING "My aunt has a cell phone that was on; I heard it, she had just called me before taking off. I will say no more. I talked to her but I will say no more. I think she was calling from the plane and then they told her to switch the phone off, which is totally understandable. But I will not say any more. What I can tell you, though, is that she was the only Moroccan on the plane. There were one hundred and twenty seven French, four Egyptians but she was the only Moroccan." 1.02 3. MV MOHAMMED HJIAJ SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS; MV POLICE OUTSIDE HOTEL, RELATIVE COMING OUT 1.25 4. MV RELATIVE CLIMBING INSIDE BUS, CRYING; SCU RELATIVE SPEAKING ON THE PHONE 1.40 5. (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNIDENTIFIED RELATIVE SAYING "My daughter was in Egypt, but she was not on this plane. I have no news from her: she was supposed to return today, but I don't know at what time. I do not think she was on this plane, though, because they allowed me to look at the passengers list and her name was not on it." 2.08 6. MV SUPPORT STAFF OUTSIDE HOTEL (3 SHOTS) 2.22 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 19th January 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVAB2HBTF2AVG4LC3XMV8CX6ATAS
  • Story Text: Worried relatives scour the passenger list for
    information of those on board the doomed EgyptAir flight.

    Grieving relatives have spent the day scouring the
    list of passengers on the plane headed for Paris that
    crashed into the Red Sea shortly after take off from Egypt.

    Entire families, including many children, were among at
    least 133 French tourists killed in a plane crash off the
    Egyptian coast while heading home after a New Year holiday
    in the sun.

    Numb with shock and their faces stained with tears, 35
    relatives of some of those aboard the Egyptian airliner
    that crashed into the Red Sea early on Saturday (January 3)
    gathered at Paris's main airport to grieve and talk to
    counsellors.

    The French government immediately set up a special
    support unit to counsel relatives of the victims at a hotel
    near the airport, where the plane had been due to land at
    0800 GMT on Saturday.

    One man said his Moroccan aunt, a 47-year-old mother
    of five - had been on the flight.

    "My aunt has a cell phone that was on; I heard it, she
    had just called me before taking off. I will say no more. I
    talked to her but I will say no more. I think she was
    calling from the plane and then they told her to switch the
    phone off, which is totally understandable. But I will not
    say any more. What I can tell you, though, is that she was
    the only Moroccan on the plane. There were 127 French, 4
    Egyptians, but she was the only Moroccan," Mohammed Hjiaj
    told journalists outside the Ibiss Hotel.

    Officials have said many children, who had been
    holidaying with their families, were on board the plane and
    that entire families, including one of seven, were wiped
    out when the plane crashed shortly after take-off from the
    sun-kissed resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

    A rescue team member said there were no survivors of
    the Flash Airlines charter plane crash, which Egyptian
    authorities said was caused by a technical fault and not a
    terrorist attack.

    France's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that 148
    people were on board, 133 of them French tourists.

    The government said it had sent deputy foreign minister
    Renaud Muselier to Egypt, as well as a team of police,
    doctors and dentists to help recover bodies and determine
    the cause of the crash.

    The Justice Ministry said it had ordered French
    prosecutors to open a judicial inquiry for manslaughter.

    Chirac's office said the president had called his
    Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak to obtain full details
    of the tragedy.

    At the airport, people scoured the list of passengers
    on the crashed plane for names of friends and relatives.


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