It was returning from the Iranian island of Kish, a favorite destination of foreign workers who must exit the Emirates and return to meet their visa requirements.
The airline advertises cheap "visa change" excursions and its daily flights are packed with foreigners -- particularly Indians, Pakistanis, and Filipinos who make up the bulk of the Emirates' work force.
According to a passenger list released by the airline, 25 of the 40 passengers were traveling on package deals that included air fare and cheap hotels in Kish.
Listed as aboard were 13 Iranians, 13 Indians, four Egyptians, two Algerians, two Bangladeshis, two Filipinos, one Nepalese, one Syrian, one Nigerian, and one Cameroonian. Six Iranian crew members also were aboard.
One man, Yaqoub Nasir, who was listed as an Iranian, was from the Emirates, his family said.
Many Iranians traveling to the Emirates to shop or for business first fly from Tehran to Kish, then make the 60-mile hop across the Gulf on Kish Air, which is significantly cheaper than a direct flight.
Colonel Saleh Ali al-Mutawaa, general director of Sharjah police, said 43 of the 46 people aboard died in the late-morning crash. Two men -- an Iranian and a Filipino -- were being treated at the coronary care unit of al-Qasimi hospital, emergency room attendants said.
Another man, badly burned on his face and body and with multiple fractures, was on a ventilator in intensive care, the attendants said. They did not give his nationality, but Mutawaa, the police official, said two Filipinos and an Iranian survived.
The near miss shook residents.
"I was sleeping when I heard what must have been the shriek of the engines, and then a very loud noise that was like a nightmare," said Hamza Ghareeb, whose house was only 100 yards from the wreckage. "My whole family ran out and we couldn't believe our eyes: There was a burning plane sitting in our front yard."
Ghareeb said the smoke and fire stopped him and others from getting too close, and residents feared the plane would explode.
"All I could see was flames and smoke and bodies everywhere," said Beatrice Manolo, a Filipina maid working in one of the homes in the area.
