Remains of 56 Gulf Air crash victims flown to Egypt as investigators begin work

Caskets wrapped in blue-plaid cloth and bundled in plastic were loaded aboard a Boeing 767 that took off Saturday for Cairo carrying the remains of 56 victims of the Gulf Air Flight 072 crash off Bahrain.

Caskets wrapped in blue-plaid cloth and bundled in plastic were loaded aboard a Boeing 767 that took off Saturday for Cairo carrying the remains of 56 victims of the Gulf Air Flight 072 crash off Bahrain.

Sixty-four Egyptians were among the 143 victims of Wednesday's crash. Nobody aboard the plane survived and most of the wreckage was in small pieces.

Over 150 relatives were at the Cairo airport when the plane arrived. Women dressed in black wailed their grief as the names of the victims were called out, and family members were led to ambulances to be taken to independent burial services.

"This is the hardest thing on earth for us," said Ali Mohammed Hassan, whose cousin, Reda Hassan, died on the flight.

While identification and claiming of remains continued Saturday in Bahrain - a process made difficult because many of the bodies were shattered - Bahraini, French and American accident investigators were getting ready for their first meeting.

Bahraini civil defense chief Col. James Windsor said investigators would be examining aerial photographs of the wreckage site, which they planned to visit later in the day. Frank Hilldrup of the U.S. National Transportation and Safety Board was to lead the investigation; he was among three NTSB investigators in Bahrain.

Investigators, including Bahraini authorities, French experts and an Airbus Industries representative, will try to determine what happened in the time between pilot Ihsan Shakeeb's aborted landing at 1929 GMT Wednesday and the plane's crashing into shallow waters just off the coast 60 seconds later.

Gulf Air's chief pilot Hameed Ali said investigators would examine the speed and altitude of Shakeeb's aborted landing as part of their probe.

"It is very important, and I may add that intracockpit communication is even more important. We have not listened to that yet," Ali told a packed press conference. But, Ali stressed, "we have spotted no error in (Shakeeb's) approach."

Both of the plane's "black boxes" - the flight data and voice cockpit recorders - were to be sent to Washington later Saturday.

Ali refused to speculate on a possible cause of the crash, but emphasized that Shakeeb was an experienced crew member with "6,856 hours and 14 minutes" of flying time. The minimum qualifying time for a Gulf Air pilot was 4,000 hours.

Shakeeb, who had eight years of experience, had calmly requested a "go around" from air traffic controllers on his first approach at Bahrain International Airport, according to Gulf Air. After circling once, he aborted his landing attempt without explanation and, one minute later, the Airbus 320 nose-dived into the sea. Shakeeb's remains were buried Friday.

Bahraini authorities at the crash site Saturday were retrieving a few more of the victims' personal belongings but leaving sunken wreckage largely in place for investigators to take a look. Windsor said a two-kilometer (1 1/4-mile) area surrounding the crash site has been sealed off.

Gulf Air has said 135 passengers and eight crew members were on board Flight 072. Sixty-three passengers were Egyptian, 34 Bahraini, 12 Saudi Arabian, nine Palestinian, six from the United Arab Emirates, three Chinese, two British and one each from Canada, Oman, Kuwait, Sudan, Australia and the United States. There were two Bahraini crew members and one each from Oman, the Philippines, Poland, India, Morocco and Egypt.

Gulf Air has offered professional counseling to the bereaved. It also has pledged dlrs 25,000 to each family who lost an adult relative. It said it would consider increasing that amount once the investigation has finished.

The U.S. Embassy in Bahrain was planning a private memorial service Saturday for the American aboard, Seth Foti, a 31-year-old diplomatic courier for the embassy. Foti's body was expected to arrive in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, and a private memorial service was being planned in his hometown of Browntown, Virginia.