Indian crew-member among 143 killed in Gulf air crash

Indian crew-member among 143 killed in Gulf air crash
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

DUBAI, AUG 24: An Indian air-hostess was among the 143 passengers and crew killed when a Gulf Air Airbus A-320 crashed into the sea off Bahrain late yesterday.

The eight-member crew consisted of three women-- an Indian, Moroccan and Egyptian -- besides two Bahrainis, one Omani, one Filipino, a Dutchman, CNN reported today.

Bodies of all 143 people -- 135 passengers and eight crew -- on board the plane have been recovered as search operations continued through the night, Television networks reported.

The Gulf Air Airbus was on a scheduled flight from Cairo to Bahrain and was full of holiday-makers and returning workers.

Bahrain Television quoted an eyewitness as saying that the plane, GF-072, circled twice around the airport and during the second round there was an explosion and then it fell into the shallow Gulf waters as it was attempting to land in Bahrain.

There was no immediate word on what caused the crash. Civil Aviation authorities said searchers have recovered flight data-recorders while the search continued for the cockpit voice-recorder.

Lists of passengers showed that 36 were under the age of 18. Sixty-three passengers were Egyptian, 34 Bahrain, 12 Saudi, nine Palestinian, six from the UAE, three Chinese, two British and one each from Canada, Oman, Kuwait, Sudan and Australia. One passenger was belived to be an American.

Emir of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Kjalifa, in his condolence message, said, ``We extend our condolences to all the relatives of the victims of this tragic incident, be they Bahrainis or other nationalities.''

He declared three days' official mourning in Bahrain. A special investigative commission would be constituted to probe the reasons for the crash.