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CNN Live Saturday

Red Sea Disaster: Egyptian Plane Crashes

Aired January 03, 2004 - 14:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with the disaster in the Red Sea. An Egyptian charter plane leaving the resort town of Sharm Al-Sheikh plunged into the water.
CNN's Sandy Petrykowsi is on the phone from Shark Al-Sheikh with the very latest -- Sandy.

SANY PETRYKOWSI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, just within the last hour, the deputy foreign French -- deputy French foreign minister, excuse me, arrived here in Sharm El-Sheik at the airport. He spoke briefly to reporters and he found this to be a difficult situation and called it a very difficult accident.

He also discussed a little about what happened in the brief flight. He said that it seemed that the pilot had concerns, some trouble and may have tried to turn the plane around. That -- some -- we are waiting for more information on what exactly happened, but at this point, that's the information that he had about what happened on the brief plane trip.

It took off this morning at 4:45 from the airport here in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, a resort town on the Sinai Peninsula -- at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula the Red Sea. Two to three minutes after takeoff, it disappeared from radar. It was found shortly thereafter to have crashed in the sea right off the coast here, within view of all these beach resorts.

The crash site itself was in deep water over 3,300 feet, which is making it a little bit hard for divers to be able to go and find the wreckage. They've been out there since early this morning, at about 5:30 local time, and they've going until now. It is almost 9:00 at night.

And the mission will continue throughout the evening continues, even under darkness. There are navy ships out there -- Egyptian navy ships out there, the air force. There are many different people, many different agencies working here. There is a delegation sent from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, headed by the minister himself, here to investigate and piece together debris.

At this point, they've that. They've only found debris and pieces of wreckage, pieces of luggage, pieces of these people's lives that were for vacation in Sharm El-Sheikh.

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Sandy Petrykowski, thanks very much for that report.

Meanwhile, in Paris, family members of the French passengers got the news about their loved ones.

CNN's Jim Bitterman is live from Charles De Gaulle Airport -- Jim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Families who went to the airport to meet passengers meant to the arrive on the flight from Sharm El-Sheikh first learned there was a problem when the arrivals board showed the flight was delayed.

But as they were taken by bus to a crisis center at an airport hotel, they were learning the truth was much worse. Relatives were clearly distraught at the news.

Medical staff and psychologists were standing by to help relatives deal with the fact that no one survived the crash.

The French prime minister did what he could.

JEAN-PIERRE RAFFARIN, FRENCH PRIME MINISTER (voice-over): I am personally very sad that this tragedy, and the entire nation is shocked. We don't know the exact circumstances at this time, but we do know the extreme brutality to families and children who came back from holidays and met with death.

BITTERMAN: With a number of different flights returning from the resorts at Sharm El-Sheikh, highly popular this time of year, some people, like this woman, came to the crisis center unsure of her daughter, vacationing in Egypt, was even on the Flash (ph) Air flight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I've been waiting for news since 9:00 this morning, when we heard about the crash. I tried to telephone, but I have no news.

BITTERMAN: French officials said that while some victims were Paris-bound, those who died came from all over the country, and a crisis telephone number was established to permit those now at the airport to check the flight passenger manifest.

(on camera): The French president telephoned his Egyptian counterpart to offer what assistance he could in determining the cause of the crash. But terrorism investigators here have said they are not planning to open an inquiry, suggesting they believe the crash was an accident.

Jim Bitterman, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 3, 2004 - 14:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with the disaster in the Red Sea. An Egyptian charter plane leaving the resort town of Sharm Al-Sheikh plunged into the water.
CNN's Sandy Petrykowsi is on the phone from Shark Al-Sheikh with the very latest -- Sandy.

SANY PETRYKOWSI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, just within the last hour, the deputy foreign French -- deputy French foreign minister, excuse me, arrived here in Sharm El-Sheik at the airport. He spoke briefly to reporters and he found this to be a difficult situation and called it a very difficult accident.

He also discussed a little about what happened in the brief flight. He said that it seemed that the pilot had concerns, some trouble and may have tried to turn the plane around. That -- some -- we are waiting for more information on what exactly happened, but at this point, that's the information that he had about what happened on the brief plane trip.

It took off this morning at 4:45 from the airport here in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, a resort town on the Sinai Peninsula -- at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula the Red Sea. Two to three minutes after takeoff, it disappeared from radar. It was found shortly thereafter to have crashed in the sea right off the coast here, within view of all these beach resorts.

The crash site itself was in deep water over 3,300 feet, which is making it a little bit hard for divers to be able to go and find the wreckage. They've been out there since early this morning, at about 5:30 local time, and they've going until now. It is almost 9:00 at night.

And the mission will continue throughout the evening continues, even under darkness. There are navy ships out there -- Egyptian navy ships out there, the air force. There are many different people, many different agencies working here. There is a delegation sent from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, headed by the minister himself, here to investigate and piece together debris.

At this point, they've that. They've only found debris and pieces of wreckage, pieces of luggage, pieces of these people's lives that were for vacation in Sharm El-Sheikh.

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Sandy Petrykowski, thanks very much for that report.

Meanwhile, in Paris, family members of the French passengers got the news about their loved ones.

CNN's Jim Bitterman is live from Charles De Gaulle Airport -- Jim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Families who went to the airport to meet passengers meant to the arrive on the flight from Sharm El-Sheikh first learned there was a problem when the arrivals board showed the flight was delayed.

But as they were taken by bus to a crisis center at an airport hotel, they were learning the truth was much worse. Relatives were clearly distraught at the news.

Medical staff and psychologists were standing by to help relatives deal with the fact that no one survived the crash.

The French prime minister did what he could.

JEAN-PIERRE RAFFARIN, FRENCH PRIME MINISTER (voice-over): I am personally very sad that this tragedy, and the entire nation is shocked. We don't know the exact circumstances at this time, but we do know the extreme brutality to families and children who came back from holidays and met with death.

BITTERMAN: With a number of different flights returning from the resorts at Sharm El-Sheikh, highly popular this time of year, some people, like this woman, came to the crisis center unsure of her daughter, vacationing in Egypt, was even on the Flash (ph) Air flight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I've been waiting for news since 9:00 this morning, when we heard about the crash. I tried to telephone, but I have no news.

BITTERMAN: French officials said that while some victims were Paris-bound, those who died came from all over the country, and a crisis telephone number was established to permit those now at the airport to check the flight passenger manifest.

(on camera): The French president telephoned his Egyptian counterpart to offer what assistance he could in determining the cause of the crash. But terrorism investigators here have said they are not planning to open an inquiry, suggesting they believe the crash was an accident.

Jim Bitterman, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com