Plane crash bomb theory is fading
By Nate Thayer
Associated Press
Friday, May 31,1991
BANGKOK, Thailand — Early indications from the investigation into the crash of an Austrian jet are pointing away from a bomb, experts close to the probe said Thursday. One said speculation now focuses on engine failure. But the investigators all stressed that no firm conclusions could be drawn yet and no possibility had been excluded.
Meanwhile, the jet's "black boxes" were being sent to the National Transportation and Safety Board in Washington for examination, Thai officials said. The Lauda Air Boeing 767 crashed late Sunday in northwest Thailand, 16 minutes after takeoff from Bangkok. All 223 people aboard the plane were killed. It was the first crash of a Boeing 767 and the 12th worst in commercial aviation history.
Previously, speculation had focused on a bomb. But one European aviation expert close to the investigation said Thursday that "no evidence of any sort of explosive device" had been found so far. "Most attention is now focused on the possibility of an engine implosion," said the expert, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said that one wing, with an engine attached, was found 12 miles from the rest of the wreckage and significantly intact, possibly indicating the wing broke off first and then the plane crashed. However, other experts have said the distance of the wing from the wreckage is in dispute.
In Seattle, Boeing spokesman Jack Gamble challenged the claim that one wing was found 12 miles from the wreckage. "Both the engines and the wings are in the general area of the fuselage that they've found," he said. "The story is out that one wing is 12 miles away from the rest of the airplane, and that's not true."
A U.S. aviation official said investigators would have expected to see the wreckage spread over a larger area if a bomb was involved. "If it had been an explosive device you would expect a larger area of debris," said Don Smith, regional manager for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration based in Singapore. But he would not speculate as to the cause of the crash.
An official of the Thai Aviation Department who flew over the site said "We are still looking at every aspect including engine failure. There was no shrapnel, no evidence" of an explosive device, he said.