French families mourn Red Sea air crash victims

Sobbing and holding each other up, relatives of the 148 people killed in the Egyptian charter jet crash mourned their loved ones today in an open-air tent facing the waters of the Red Sea where the plane went down.

“It’s terrible,” a Frenchman shouted, staggering away and then collapsing in grief after the service for victims of Flash Airlines flight FSH604.

The dead included 133 French tourists.

“We recall the memory of whole families who shared the same joys and were hit by the same fate,” French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told the relatives. “France was touched deep in the heart by this tragedy. We cry for our missing and lend our support to you all.”

De Villepin and Egypt’s first lady, Suzanne Mubarak, then laid flowers at a marble monument inscribed with the names those who died.

Relatives followed with white roses and white carnations – a French symbol of mourning – then crowded around the monument to search for the names of their dead on the marble.

An Egyptian military band played sombre music as Egyptian troops stood at attention for the religious service held by a Roman Catholic priest, a Protestant minister and a Muslim imam.

The monument was dedicated in French to: Victims of the plane crash, Jan. 3, 2004, while names of the Egyptian victims appeared in Arabic. Flags of Egypt, France, Japan and Morocco flew at half-mast.

The search for body parts and debris was scaled back during the service, so no surveillance aircraft would be seen buzzing through the area. Two helicopters hovered nearby, apparently for security.

A French military frigate was visible on the horizon – a reminder of the ongoing operation to recover wreckage and remains from the Boeing 737 that crashed shortly after take-off Saturday Sharm el-Sheik en route from the resort of to Paris via Cairo.