Searchers are recovering the plane's debris

In this story:

• 53 Delta passengers aboard plane
• 'The mood is terrible'
• Bad memories for New Yorkers
• Related stories and sites

PEGGY'S COVE, Nova Scotia (CNN) -- As the sun rose over the Atlantic Ocean Thursday, hopes for finding survivors from the crash of Swissair Flight 111 dimmed, as airline officials said they believed all 229 people aboard the aircraft had died.

There were 215 passengers, including two infants, and 14 crew members aboard the aircraft, Swissair officials said. American passengers totaled 136, officials said, comprising the largest single nationality on board. Some 30 French and some 28 Swiss citizens were also on the flight, Swissair officials said.

Dr. Jonathan Mann, a former professor from the Harvard School of Public Health and a pioneer in the fight against AIDS, was among the victims, a spokesman for the World Health Organization said Thursday. Mann's wife was accompanying him on the flight to Geneva.

RELATED VIDEO
News conference held by agencies involved in the recovery effort
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RELATED AUDIO:
"We saw few life jackets ..." -- Rob Gordon, CBC News AIFF or WAV (252 K / 20 sec. audio) AIFF or WAV (476 K / 40 sec. audio)
"We thought it was a thunder ..."-- Wilfred Morash, witness AIFF or WAV (476 K / 40 sec. audio)
"We heard the plane coming down ..."-- Alberta Martin, witness AIFF or WAV (448 K / 37 sec. audio)

As of daylight, 18 bodies had been recovered, officials said. A flotilla of search crews was canvassing the waters off Peggy's Cove, a popular tourist destination.

"We have to suppose that there are no survivors," Swissair Chief Executive Officer Philippe Bruggisser said at a news conference in Zurich.

In Washington, White House officials said they had no indication that terrorism had contributed to the crash.

Airlines worldwide have been on alert for possible acts of sabotage since the United States last month attacked suspected terrorist facilities in Sudan and Afghanistan to retaliate for the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Officials said the jetliner departed New York's Kennedy International Airport at 8:18 p.m. EDT Wednesday, bound for Geneva. It plowed into the ocean about an hour later, as the pilot prepared to make an emergency landing in Halifax.

Swissair officials confirmed that the pilot reported smoke in the cockpit shortly before the crash.

The pilot detected a problem shortly after takeoff, Swissair officials said.

The pilot initially considered landing in Boston, Swissair officials said, but that proved too difficult and he decided to attempt an emergency landing in Halifax.

53 Delta passengers aboard plane

There were conflicting reports as to whether the bulk of the passengers were Americans or Swiss.

Both the pilot, 50-year-old Urs Zimmermann, and the co-pilot, Stefan Low, 36, were Swiss, officials said.

Rescue workers on the scene

One Delta Air Lines flight attendant and 53 Delta passengers were aboard the flight, which was operated by Swissair in a code-sharing agreement with Delta, officials said.

A team of 10 U.S. investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board departed Washington before dawn to assist in the investigation, officials said. Canadian aviation officials will be in charge of the crash probe, NTSB officials said.

'The mood is terrible'

Near the crash site, witnesses described an offshore debris field littered with bodies, body parts, torn life rafts, life jackets, and bits of the jetliner.

Through the night, flares cast an eerie glow over the ocean graveyard, as dozens of ships cruised the area hoping to find survivors.

A dozen military planes, helicopters, two warships and dozens of regular and auxiliary Canadian Coast Guard vessels and fishing boats participated in the nautical search.

"The mood is terrible," reported Canadian Broadcasting Corporation journalist Rob Gordon. "Fishermen are coming on the VHF radio asking for body bags and pleading at some points for the navy to take bodies off their boats. They don't want any more bodies on their boats."

Residents in the small community reported hearing a very low-flying aircraft and what sounded like thunder moments before the crash.

"I thought at first it was a helicopter, all I heard was a big boom like a sonic boom. The plane went right over head, it was very, very low. It sounded terrible. I joked that it sounded like a UFO because it was just droning," said Edie Boyle, a resident of nearby Blandford.

"It wasn't the smooth sound of an airplane," recalled Alberta Martin. "I heard the crash (and) a clap of thunder shook the house."

Bad memories for New Yorkers

At Geneva's Cointrin Airport, a team of police psychologists, counselors and other specialists gathered in a small area to offer assistance to grieving relatives.

In Long Island, the scene brought back memories of the immediate aftermath of the TWA Flight 800 crash in July 1996.

The body of a victim is brought to shore

Michelle Auster, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross, said there were a few families at the airport: "They're in a state of shock."

The MD-11 that crashed was put into service in August 1991, and was overhauled a year ago, officials said.

A Canadian Navy spokesman said the pilot radioed Halifax traffic controllers shortly before the crash to report smoke in the cockpit and to say the fuel was being dumped in preparation for an emergency landing.

Canadian Coast Guard officials say the MD-11 disappeared from radar at 10:18 p.m. Nova Scotia time Wednesday (9:18 p.m. EDT).

Both the airline and the MD-11 aircraft type had exceptional safety records prior to the crash.

Wednesday night's crash marked the eighth crash -- and the deadliest -- in Swissair's 67-year-old history.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.