The plane - a British Overseas Airways Corporation jet - was on its way from Singapore to London. It came down in the sea about 20 minutes after taking off from Rome, in Italy, on the last leg of its journey.

Fifteen bodies have been recovered so far. There were 10 children among the passengers. World War II correspondent Chester Wilmot, was also among those missing.

A fisherman reported seeing the plane crash into the sea, south of Elba, after what appeared to be a mid-air explosion.

An inquiry found the accident was caused by an unusually severe storm. The plane suffered a structural failure in the air which caused a fire and led to the crash.

Giovanni di Marco, the fisherman who first reported the latest crash, said: "I heard three explosions, very quickly, one after the other. For a moment all was quiet. Then, several miles away, I saw a silver thing flash out of the clouds. Smoke came from it. It hit the sea.

"There was a great cloud of water. By the time I got there all was still again. There were some bodies in the water. We began to pick them up. There was nothing else we could do."

The alarm was raised at about 1115 local time. Italian search aircraft were airborne by 1230.

By nightfall, three Italian ships were reported to be at the scene of the disaster, where wreckage with BOAC markings has been found.

Police say none of the bodies recovered so far have been identified. The 10 children on board were on their way home to school in Britain after visiting their parents in the East for the Christmas holidays.

Mr Wilmott was a war correspondent for the BBC in western Europe. He also reported on the Nuremberg trial.

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