PARIS, Jan. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- French Justice Minister Dominique Perben has demanded the opening of a preliminary inquiry for manslaughter after the crash of an Egyptian charter plane in the Red Sea earlier Saturday killed 148 people, most of them French.

    The demand does not prejudges the cause of the catastrophe but simply in legal teams allows French and Egyptian investigators to cooperate, said the French Justice Ministry.

    The request allows France to send investigators to the scene and work with their Egyptian counterparts to determine the cause of the crash.

    It has become a standard practice to open an inquiry in both France and the country where such accidents take place.

    French President Jacques Chirac and his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak has discussed over the phone issues relating to setting up a crisis team within the Foreign Ministry and providingimmediate information services to victim families waiting at the Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport of Paris.

    Chirac has decided to send his Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs Renaud Muselier to Egypt immediately, his office said.

    Chirac has been in contact with his Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin since early morning "in order that all necessary dispositions will be taken on the ground with the Egyptian authorities", said the office.

    The Egyptian charter plane carrying 135 French tourists and 13 crew crashed into the Red Sea shortly after taking off from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

    The French authorities said the French tourists were heading home after a New Year beach holiday in the sun.

    The crashed plane Boeing 737 refueled and changed crew in Cairoand had been scheduled to arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris at 0800 GMT.

    A rescue team member said there were no survivors of the crash,which Egypt's civil aviation ministry said was caused by a technical fault. It ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack. Enditem