The bodies of 56 Egyptians who died in the Gulf Air crash off Bahrain arrived back in Egypt Saturday on a special flight, accompanied by 164 grieving relatives, witnesses said.
One woman screamed as she walked down the steps of the Gulf Air plane onto the tarmac while airport employees began removing the coffins and placing them in waiting ambulances and hearses.
A total of 64 Egyptians were among the 143 people who died Wednesday when the plane, coming from Cairo, crashed into the sea just before it was due to land.
Another seven bodies have been kept in Bahrain because of doubts over their identities and will be flown home later.
One of the Egyptians, a member of the crew who lived in Manama, is likely to be buried in Bahrain.
Egyptian authorities have arranged for around 50 ambulances to transport the bodies to wherever in Egypt the families want their relatives to be buried. Around 20 private black hearses were also standing by.
Multicolored mourning tents were also erected in the airport grounds for people waiting in Cairo for the bodies to arrive.
The relatives had gone to Bahrain in a special plane on Thursday, around 24 hours after the crash, to identify the dead - CAIRO (AFP)
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