Families gather at Paris airport
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Relatives were taken by bus to a nearby hotel.
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PARIS, France -- Distraught family members gathered at Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris for word on the fate of their loved ones aboard a Boeing 737 that crashed into the Red Sea off Egypt.
But it soon became clear there were no survivors.
Some 35 relatives were discreetly pulled aside by airport authorities and taken by shuttle bus to a crisis center set up at a hotel near the airport.
Looking pale and shaken, a couple in their 50s arrived at the terminal, desperately seeking information about their children.
"My children are at Sharm. How do I find out if they were on the plane?" the man asked an airport official. The couple was then whisked away to the crisis center.
Another man, Bruno Fouquet, arrived at the airport worried that friends of his -- a family of five who had spent Christmas holidays in Egypt -- had been on the doomed plane.
He went to the crisis center and then returned 10 minutes later, having discovered they were on a later flight.
"I can't wait to see them," he said, smiling with relief.
Most French passengers had organized their trip through FRAM, one of France's biggest tour operators.
Many children were on board a plane, the head of medical services at Paris's main airport told Reuters.
Asked whether children were aboard, Michel Clerel, who is in charge of counseling for relatives of the victims, said: "Yes many. They were spending their holidays with their families."
A family of seven was aboard the plane, Clerel told reporters.
Copyright 2004 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
