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Voice and flight data recorder recovered from Gulf Air crash site
MANAMA, Bahrain -- Relatives of the 143 people aboard a Gulf Air A320 airbus that crashed into the Persian Gulf began the grim task of identifying their loved ones on Thursday. Officials said all the bodies of the 135 passengers and eight crew members had been recovered and no one aboard the plane survived the crash. The relatives have been asked to identify the victims before the bodies can be handed over to them, said Ibrahim Al-Hammer, Bahrain's undersecretary for civil aviation.
Gulf Air Flight 072 crashed Wednesday night into the Persian Gulf about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) short of a landing strip at Bahrain International Airport after two "missed approaches." Crews have recovered the plane's cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. More than 200 relatives and friends of those on board the plane were taken to a special lounge at the Bahrain airport to receive counseling. Many others waited at the airport in Cairo, Egypt, for a special flight to take them to Bahrain. "Gulf Air is doing nothing to us," said Mohammed Abdel-Halim, one of many relatives in Cairo angry that little information was available hours after the crash. Abdel-Halim said his nephew, Kamil el-Sayyed was aboard the flight. Women at the Cairo airport screamed, and men tried vainly to calm them. Mohammed Ibrahim el-Naggar was frustrated. "No information is being given to us. Absolutely nothing. We were told that there were some survivors, but no names were given," he said. El-Naggar said his cousin, her husband, who works in Dubai, and their two children ages 2 and 3 were on the downed plane. A spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington said the NTSB will send a team of investigators to Bahrain on Thursday in response to a request from the Bahraini government to help find the cause of the crash. Bahraini television said the jet fell from the sky at 8:40 p.m. Thirty of the passengers were said to be children. Bahraini helicopter crews equipped with night vision joined naval vessels in the search and recovery effort. They were assisted by aircraft and ships from the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, based in Manama, capital of the island nation. Emir orders 3 days of mourning"We extend our condolences to all the relatives of the victims of this tragic incident, be they Bahrainis or other nationalities," said Hammad bin Isa Khalifa, emir of Bahrain. He formed a special investigative commission and declared three days of official mourning in his country. Gulf Air said the passengers included 63 Egyptians, 34 Bahrainis, 12 Saudis, nine Palestinians, six people from the United Arab Emirates, three Chinese, two Britons, one Canadian, one Omani, one Kuwaiti, one Sudanese and one Australian. There was one American on board, a diplomatic courier for the U.S. State Department, officials in Washington said. The man, an employee of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, was not immediately identified. The crew consisted of two Bahrainis, one Omani, one Filipino, a Dutchman and three women -- an Indian, Moroccan and Egyptian. The crash came at the height of the travel season between Egypt and the Persian Gulf, as thousands of Egyptians return to their jobs in the gulf and thousands of gulf nationals return from vacation in Egypt. Aircraft tried to land twiceAn air traffic controller at the Bahrain airport, speaking on condition of anonymity, described watching the plane from the tower circle the runway twice in an attempt to land, then on the third attempt crashing into the gulf and exploding into flames. The Associated Press quoted the man as saying he saw no flames or sign of trouble before the crash and could not immediately explain why the plane circled before landing. He said the plane's crew did not report anything out of the ordinary.
"I could not believe my eyes," said Sobeih, 27, a resident of the nearby neighborhood of Al-Fodha who saw the plane go down. "When I saw it heading toward the sea nose down, I screamed 'Oh my God, this thing is going down.'" Sobeih and Riyadh, 24, another Al-Fodha resident, said the plane flew unusually low over their heads toward the runway, but took a sharp turn toward the sea. Ahdaya Ahmed of the Bahrain Tribune told CNN that eyewitnesses said it appeared as if the pilot was struggling to control the plane during several attempts to land. On the third attempt, the people said, the Airbus almost crashed into a building, flew over the terminal and then nose-dived into the shallow waters of the sea. Those witnesses did not see any flames near the engine, but they said the plane exploded upon hitting the water. U.S. Navy assistingThe U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters is based in Manama, Bahrain, and naval sources said the Airbus crashed into 18 feet of water. Assisting in the search and recovery efforts were two HH-60 "Sea Hawks" from the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN-73), and one H-3s "Sea King" from a Navy squadron flying from Bahrain. The HH-60 is specially outfitted for search and rescue missions. Also participating were two harborcraft (small boats) from the Naval Support Activity in Bahrain and two ships assigned to the 5th Fleet. The USS Oldendorf (DD-972) and the USS Milius (DDG-69) were participating along with the tugboat USNS Catawba. A huge traffic jam swiftly built up on the road to the airport, which is about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from Manama, the capital. Weeping relatives of Flight 072 passengers pleaded with policemen, who threw a security ring around the airport. No one was allowed through to the terminal building. Reports say engine caught on fireThe manufacturer of the crashed jetliner is sending a team of experts to help investigators. Officials at Airbus Industries Inc., based in Toulouse, France, told CNN a group of experts will leave Thursday morning for the Persian Gulf. Information Ministry spokesman Saeed Al-Bably told CNN that initial reports from the pilot indicated a fire broke out in one of the plane's engines. The Airbus is a mid-range plane capable of flying with only one engine operational. CNN Correspondent Carl Rochelle said the jet is equipped with an automated flight control system that practically eliminates the human element from basic operations. Aviation safety consultant Kevin Darcy told CNN that the Airbus A320 has a "very respectable" safety record after some initial concerns -- some about the computer-driven control system -- in its early years of operation. Darcy added that the jet's engines were fairly "fire tolerant." Gulf Air is owned by Bahrain, the Gulf states of Oman and Qatar and Abu Dhabi, the largest of seven sheikdoms making up the United Arab Emirates. Based in Bahrain, it flies to 53 international destinations. CNN Cairo Chief Ben Wedeman, CNN Correspondent Carl Rochelle, CNN State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel and the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. RELATED STORIES: All 143 bodies found in Gulf Air wreckage off Bahrain RELATED SITES: Gulf Air | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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