Clue to Gulf Air crash

Mourners comfort a relative of one of the victims

There are reports that excessive speed may have contributed to the crash of the Gulf Air jet which dived into the sea on Wednesday killing all 143 people on board.

A clearer picture should emerge once experts begin studying the flight recorders from the Airbus 320.

An article in the Bahrain Tribune quotes an unnamed source giving details of the final conversations between the control tower and the pilot.

The article says the pilot would have overshot the runway if he had attempted to land on the first approach. After two further attempts, says the report, the plane's speed was still too high and the pilot lost control while making a small turn and nose-dived into the sea.

Rescue teams have recovered bodies, black boxes and debris

Rescue teams have recovered both recorders - one containing cockpit conversations, the other flight data - as well as the bodies of all those who died on Flight GF072.

The investigation is expected to begin in earnest later on Friday after three experts from the US arrive in Bahrain to help.

A representative from the plane's maker, Airbus Industrie, has already arrived along with French accident investigators.

Information

Plane facts

The ill-fated plane was delivered to Gulf Air in September 1994

The A320 model entered service in April 1988

Wednesday's crash is its sixth major disaster

In the last A320 crash, 87 people died in eastern France in January 1992

Bahrain's Transport Minister, Sheik Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, said he hoped information from the recorders would start solving the mystery of what brought the plane down.

"Any news, anything out of it would be a help," he said.

A Gulf Air spokesman said the pilot made no emergency call, although he appears to have circled the airport twice before making his ill-fated landing attempt.

Pilot

Other Bahrain newspapers carried flattering descriptions of the pilot, a Bahraini national, after Abu Dhabi television reported that pilot error had brought the plane down.

The plane broke up after hitting the water

The Gulf Daily News said that Captain Ilhsan Shakeeb was a devout Muslim and a dedicated flier who had worked his way up through the ranks of Gulf Air over 21 years.

However a BBC correspondent in Bahrain, John McIntyre, says it is now known that he had only recently been appointed a captain.

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Ahmed Hassan, an eyewitness, told the BBC that the jet veered to avoid buildings before plunging into the sea.

"It U-turned and tried to land, then in 15 seconds it went sharply down into the sea and there was a huge fire," he said.

He said the jet fell "sharply, like an arrow".

International emergency phone number for Gulf Air

0044 208 2839666

The Bahraini prime minister, Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, and other government officials attended a service of funeral prayers for the plane crash victims in the Grand Mosque on Friday.

Three bodies, wrapped in cloth, were lain before the 2,000 or so worshippers in a symbolic tribute to the 107 adults and 36 children who lost their lives, an information ministry spokesman said.

One body was the size of a small child.

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