The Bahrain authorities say all 143 people on board a Gulf Air plane which crashed off the country's coast on Wednesday are now known to have died.

It U-turned and tried to land, then in 15 seconds it went sharply down into the sea

Eyewitness

The bodies of the 135 passengers on flight GF072 - many of them children - and eight crew were recovered during a huge overnight search operation. Work has begun to identify the dead.

The plane, an Airbus 320, crashed about 5km (three miles) from Bahrain airport, as it was making its third attempt to land after a three-hour flight from Cairo.

Officials announced early on Thursday that all hope of finding survivors had gone.

"We have pulled out the bodies of the 143 people who were on board the plane," Abdul Rahman bin Rashid al-Khalifa, administration director of Bahrain's Civil Defence, told state television.

Engine fire

He said the plane's flight recorder had been recovered from the shallow waters of the crash site. A later report said the cockpit voice recorder had also been found.

A full investigation into the disaster will commence later on Thursday.

Passengers

63 Egyptians 34 Bahrainis 12 Saudis Nine Palestinians Six UAE citizens Three Chinese Two Britons One American, Australian, Canadian, Kuwaiti, Omani, Sudanese

It is still not known what caused the crash. Eyewitnesses say they heard an explosion and saw fire coming from one of the plane's engines.

Most of the passengers on the doomed airliner were Egyptian, Bahraini or Saudi nationals returning to the Gulf island state after summer holidays abroad. At least 30 were children under the age of 10.

The crew comprised two Bahrainis, an Omani, a Filipino, a Pole, an Indian, a Moroccan and an Egyptian.

Reports say that one passenger - an Egyptian - who should have been on board was turned away by Cairo passport control because his Bahraini work permit was not in order.

A shocked relative is taken to hospital in Manama

The rescue operation was assisted by frogmen and helicopters equipped with searchlights from the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain.

Explosion

Weeping relatives of those on board pleaded with policemen ringing the airport outside the Bahraini capital, Manama, to be allowed access.

A special flight is bringing 63 relatives from Egypt to identify the bodies.

The Emir of Bahrain, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, has announced that a commission will be set up to establish what brought the plane down. He also declared three days of mourning.

Cairo airport officials said the plane left the Egyptian capital at 1625 local time (1325 GMT). It came down a little under three hours later.

Distraught relatives have gathered at Cairo Airport

According to an air traffic controller at Bahrain airport, the jet circled the runway twice in an attempt to land, then on the third attempt plunged into the sea and exploded in flames.

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".

Airbus sends team

Airbus Industrie said it was sending a team of specialists to Bahrain to help in the investigation.

The A320 entered service in April 1988. Wednesday's crash is its sixth major disaster.

In the last fatal A320 crash, 87 people died when one of the jets came down near Strasbourg in eastern France in January 1992.

Gulf Air, which has a good safety record, is jointly owned by the Gulf states of Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.