A fatal plane crash near the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh early Saturday was caused by "extreme technical fault," Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation Ahmed Shafiq was quoted by the official MENA news agency as saying.

"There were very strong initial estimates that a chartered Boeing had crashed into the Red Sea earlier in the day due to an extreme technical fault," Shafiq told reporters in Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday.

"The plane had not made any distress call before its plunge," he said, referring to the tragedy which killed all 148 aboard, mostly French tourists.

"The plane had no problem while taking off, and it reached an altitude of 5,000 meters before facing some difficulties," he said.

"It is likely that the pilot had some problems after take-off and had tried to land, but he did not succeed," he said.

"Radar readings made many things very clear to us," he said.

"The plane was in excellent form, and regular follow-up checks affirmed that its condition was 100 percent airworthy," he said, adding that the French authorities had been asked to take part in search operations and investigations into the incident.

"Identifying the reason for the crash depends on finding its two black boxes," he added.

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

(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2004)