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Feature: memorial service for crashed plane victims unites Muslims, Christians

Xinhua, May 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Al-Boutrossiya Coptic Church in Cairo received Sunday dozens of Muslim and Christian mourners who attended a memorial service in honor of the victims of EgyptAir flight MS804, which crashed over the Mediterranean on Thursday, killing all 66 people on board.

"I come here today to remember the victims of the airplane, both Muslims and Christians... in the end we are all Egyptians and brothers in humanity," Shaimaa Ahmed, a Muslim accountant, told Xinhua as she entered the Church service room.

Inside the church, anguish was easily noticed on the faces of black-dressed mourners who shared their grief with each other as they listened to the priest's speech.

The church was lit with flickering candles while tears and sighs mingled in harmony with the voice of the priest who prayed for the victims.

"I do not know any of the victims personally, but I really feel grieved for what happened to them... May God shower his mercy on them," Ahmed added as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Early on Thursday, an EgyptAir Airbus A320 disappeared from radar screens en route from Paris to Cairo. It was confirmed later the jet plunged into the Mediterranean.

The flight had 66 people aboard, including 30 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis and nine others each from Algeria, Belgium, Portugal, Britain, Canada, Chad, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

On Friday, the Egyptian armed forces said they found some personal belongings and remains of the victims as well as parts of the plane wreckage in the Mediterranean Sea, 290 km north of the coastal city Alexandria.

Search operations and investigations are still ongoing.

"It is a very miserable tragedy. Our hearts bleed for the deceased and their families," Yossri Bekhet, a Christian human rights activist told Xinhua during the mass.

"No words could describe the heartache we feel for the loss of the victims... The only thing that might relieve all of us is that they are at a better place now," he added in a sad tone.

Bishop Daniel, the Bishop of Maadi churches and Papal Secretary who led the service, said that head of the Coptic Orthodox Church Pope Tawadros II and all the Egyptians are very deeply grieved by this loss.

"We show full solidarity with the families of the victims, we share the pains and they will always be in our prayers," he said.

The Bishop praised the government's efforts to find the bodies of the victims, saying "the mission is extremely difficult, but the government will exert all its efforts to find the bodies of the victims."

Right after the airplane crash, international and local media outlets spoke about the possibility of a terror behind the accident.

This was even raised by Egypt's Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy, who said in a press conference Thursday that a terrorist attack was more likely than a technical failure that caused the crash.

On Sunday, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said that no assumption is certain why the EgyptAir plane crashed. Endit