138 perish in two air crashes
TUNIS, May 7: At least 138 people were killed on Tuesday in two crashes involving a Chinese and an Egyptian airliner.
The Chinese plane, belonging to the China Northern Airlines and carrying 112 passengers, crashed into the sea off the northeastern city of Dalian, feared killing all aboard.
Airline official said there was little hope of any of the other 62 people aboard surviving.
The Xinhua news agency said rescuers had pulled 50 bodies from the water after the MD-82 aircraft crashed 10kms off the coast about eight minutes after the captain reported a fire in the cabin.
The EgyptAir plane crashed near Tunisia’s main airport in bad weather after making a desperate emergency call.
CHINA CRASH: The China Northern aircraft was carrying 103 passengers and nine crew.
Xinhua said eight foreigners, some from Japan and South Korea, were on board the Chinese airliner.
It was China’s second crash in less than a month. Of the 166 people on board, 38 survived Air China’s first crash in nearly 50 years.
EGYPTIAN AIRLINER: EgyptAir officials in Cairo said 56 passengers, six crew and two security agents were on board the plane, which was en route from the Egyptian capital.
The airline said the passengers included 27 Egyptians, 16 Tunisians, two Chinese, three Algerians, a Libyan, a Saudi, three Jordanians, a Palestinian and two Britons.
Egypt’s ambassador to Tunisia, Mahdi Fathallah, told Egyptian television the pilot was the only crew member who survived.
He said the weather was the cause of the crash but there was no immediate confirmation from the scene. “It was raining very hard,” he said.
—Reuters\AFP