Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt ? Questions were raised Sunday about a charter airline’s safety standards after one of its planes crashed into the Red Sea, killing 148 people. Swiss authorities said they banned Flash Airlines 14 months ago after it flunked an inspection, and an Italian passenger recalled a flight when an engine burst into flames.

The head of the airline said the aircraft had been in good condition before the crash. Officials suspect mechanical failure.

“I am 100 percent sure that the plane was fit for flying,” Mohamed Nour, chairman of Flash Airlines, told The Associated Press on Sunday. “Accidents happen. We are sorry for the losses of life, but we shouldn’t jump into speculation.”

Search crews on military and civilian vessels continued efforts to recover bodies, the flight data recorder and the fuselage.

The extreme depth of the wreckage, believed to be resting in 2,600 feet of water, was hampering recovery, and only small plane pieces and body parts from the shark-infested waters near the resort had been found.

France dispatched three aircraft with 50 experts, a military surveillance plane, a naval frigate, 16 scuba divers and a robot submarine to help. Of the 148 passengers who died, there were 133 French tourists, a Japanese, a Moroccan and 13 Egyptian crew members.

French Deputy Foreign Minister Renaud Muselier told reporters there was nothing to suggest that terrorism was the cause of Saturday’s crash of Flash Airlines Flight FSH604, which had just taken off from Sharm el-Sheik on its way to Paris when it crashed.

French Transport Minister Gilles de Robien said indications suggested the plane suffered “simply a loss of power.”

Egyptian officials have said preliminary information indicates the crash was caused by a mechanical problem. Radar images showed the plane turned left as normal after takeoff, straightened out and then turned right before plunging into the sea.

Mourners stop by candles during a mass ceremony to pay homage to the victims of the plane crash in Egypt, in Notre Dame cathedral, Paris. Across France, families and communities were mourning Sunday for the 133 French victims of Flash Airlines flight, which crashed off the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik on Saturday, killing all 148 people on board.