Crash investigators today began a fingertip search of the Essex wood where a cargo jet crashed in a ball of flames seconds after taking off from Stansted Airport.

The crew of four on the Korean Air 747 are all understood to have died in the crash, which happened last night on the outskirts of Hatfield Forest country park, near to the busy M11 and the villages of Little and Great Hallingbury.

A man's body and a number of other body parts, plus a black box voice recorders, have been found at the remote woodland spot where the aircraft plummeted to the ground and exploded.

The impact of the crash was so great it shook passengers and staff at the airport terminal nearby.

Paul Leaman, Essex Ambulance Service director of operations, said there was little doubt that the three man crew and the engineer perished.

Air Accident Investigation Branch officials hope the black box will reveal the cause of the crash.

Police confirmed the aircraft had been carrying a "small quantity of chemicals" but a spokesman said there was no danger to the public from any toxic substances.

The Korean Airways Boeing 747 200, bound for Seoul via Milan, crashed in driving rain at 6.42pm last night.

All the crew were Korean nationals and the Korean embassy in London has been notified of the crash.

Essex fire brigade and crash investigators responded quickly to emergency calls before retreating from the crash site when it became known that the plane was carrying a small amount of chemicals which may have been explosive.

Charles Clark, deputy chief constable of Essex, said: "We were concerned about what the cargo might have been so we sensibly retreated until the fire brigade was sure any dangerous chemicals would have burned out."

He added: "The Essex fire service responded in minutes. Wreckage was spread over a wide area and weather conditions have not made investigation easier.

Responding to eyewitness reports of an explosion on the aircraft as it took off, Ken Smart, airport chief security officer, said no conclusions would be reached until investigators had studied the evidence of the flight recorder.

Flights due to land at Stansted in the wake of the crash were diverted to Cambridge and Luton airports and 35 flight departures from the airport were cancelled, stranding an estimated 2,000 people overnight on one of the airport's busiest days of the year.

John Stent, managing director of Stansted Airport, said normal flight service would resume only when crash investigators had studied the runway.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott will visit Stansted this morning to meet investigators and members of the emergency services.

Essex police have set up a public information hot-line for travel from Stansted on 01245 490990.

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