Signal from Red Sea crash aircraft found

Searchers hunting for the wreckage of a charter jet that crashed into the Red Sea have detected a signal that could be the plane…

Searchers hunting for the wreckage of a charter jet that crashed into the Red Sea have detected a signal that could be the plane's black box flight data recorder.

The signal was detected by a radar on a robotic arm used by searchers in the area where Flash Airlines' Flight FSH604 crashed on Saturday.

"It's a positive sign but nothing conclusive," said a French Embassy official.

There was no indication of how deep the signal was coming from. Experts had said the deep waters would slow recovery efforts.

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Most of the 148 people killed in the crash were French tourists, and France has sent military equipment to help find wreckage and remains, as well as forensics experts to identify body parts through DNA testing.

The body parts recovered from the sea so far bore no burns, suggesting there was no explosion on the Egyptian chartered Boeing 737, French Deputy Foreign Minister Renaud Muselier said.

But Mr Michel Wachenheim, head of France's Civil Aviation Authority, said it would be difficult to determine the cause of the crash until the 'black box' flight recorders were located. He did not rule out the possibility that terrorism could be behind the crash.

Families of the victims were set to begin arriving tomorrow in Sharm el-Sheik, a popular resort about 480 miles south-east of Cairo, for memorial services on land and on sea.