the airline's tel aviv office said 49 passengers boarded the plane there for rome and the united states. they included 17 americans (plus a baby), 13 japanese, four italians, four french, three indians, two iranians, two israelis, two sri lankans, an australian and a canadian. the nationalities of 30 other passengers and the nine crew members were not immediately known at the time. reuters reported a total of 37 americans aboard. the crash occurred about 50 nautical miles west of cephalonia, greece.