Rescue work was still continuing to find more bodies of those people killed in a plane crash off the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh early Saturday, an Egyptian official said.

"So far, about 12 to 13 bodies of the victims have been recovered," Southern Sinai Governor Mostafa Afifi said Saturday evening in the seaside city, quoted by the official MENA news agency.

"The plane fell 900 meters deep into the bottom of the Red Sea. Sophisticated devices are being used to quickly locate the remaining bodies and wreckage and determine the cause of the accident," he said.

"Teams from the ministries of the interior, health and aviation as well as the army are doing their best to find and recover the bodies and wreckage," he said.

He added that a French team of technicians was due in Sharm el-Sheikh later to assist the rescue operation.

All 148 people, including 135 passengers and 13 crew members, were killed when a Boeing 737 belonging to private Egyptian company Flash Air plunged into the Red Sea early Saturday shortly after take-off.

Earlier in the day, Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation Ahmed Shafiq attributed the tragedy to "an extreme technical fault." 

(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2004)