GROUND GULF STAFF COMFORTS A RELATIVE AT BAHRAIN'S AIRPORT, 2000-08-26 (photo)

Gulf Air ground staff at Bahrian's airport tries to comfort an Egyptian woman as she makes her way to a special Gulf Air aircraft to accompany the coffins of the victims of Wednesday's Gulf Air flight crash August 26,2000. The bodies of the 63 Egyptians killed in the crash were flown home on the special Gulf Air flight. As rescue teams continued to pull pieces of the plane, luggage and clothing from the shallow water, relatives began claiming the victims' bodies to take them home for burial. Ibrahim Abdullah al-Hammar, Bahrain's Transport Ministry Undersecretary for Civil Aviation, said 130 bodies had been handed over to the families. The flight recorders from the Gulf Air Airbus A320 that crashed off Bahrain will be flown to the United States on Saturday in the hope that light can be shed on the mysterious disaster. JS/JDP