CAIRO, Jan 3: A charter plane carrying 135 French tourists and 13 Egyptian crew to Paris plunged into the Red Sea after take-off from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh before dawn on Saturday, killing all on board, officials said.
The crash came amid heightened air security in the face of fears that a passenger airliner could be used for a Sept 11-style terror attack against the United States.
But Egyptian civil aviation officials blamed technical failure for the crash and said they have ruled out any explosion.
"All people who were aboard the plane are dead," said Osama al-Sayed, a senior official with the aircraft's owners Flash Airlines, a charter airline based in Cairo.
Airline officials said there were 135 French tourists aboard Flight 604 as well as 13 Egyptians including six crew and seven members of a relief crew.
Pieces of wreckage were found in the sea about 15 kilometres south of Sharm el-Sheikh, civil aviation authorities said, while Egyptian state television showed air force planes, navy ships and a helicopter searching the sea within sight of the coastline.
"There was no explosion aboard the plane before it crashed into the sea," civil aviation ministry engineer Faisal al-Shennawi told AFP.
"The first results of the investigation indicate the crash was caused by a technical failure," he said, adding that the ministry would soon publish a statement.
The official MENA news agency said only one body had so far been pulled from the water.
"No survivors have been found after five hours of searching, and only one piece of airplane debris has been recovered," said Sayed.
The French foreign ministry said its diplomatic services were on an emergency footing in both Paris and Cairo, seeking to find out the circumstances of the crash. Sharm el-Sheikh, tucked between the rugged mountains of the Sinai desert and the clear waters of the Red Sea is a glitzy resort offering casinos, golf courses and some of the world's best diving.
It is frequently used by Mubarak as the venue for Middle East peace summits.-AFP