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August 27, 2000
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) - Investigators clicked pictures Saturday of wreckage from Gulf Air Flight 072 protruding from shallow Gulf waters, seeking clues to the plane's nosedive into the sea as remains of 56 of the 143 victims were flown home to Egypt for burial. A team of eight Bahraini, French and American investigators viewing the 2-square-kilometer debris field from a boat photographed the plane's ripped tail section. They refused to discuss any details of the investigation, but were beginning immediately on their first priority. "We're going to map out the wreckage area and where the pieces are," said one of three U.S. National Transportation and Safety Board investigators in Bahrain, who would not give his name. "Obviously, then we still have to pull the stuff out." Bahraini civil defense chief Col. James Windsor said investigators examined aerial photographs of the wreckage site in their first meeting earlier Saturday. An NTSB investigator, Frank Hilldrup, was leading the probe into Wednesday night's crash of the Airbus 320 off the coast of Bahrain. Investigators, including Bahraini authorities, French government experts and an Airbus Industries representative, will try to determine what happened in the time between pilot Ihsan Shakeeb's aborted landing at 1629 GMT (7:29 p.m. local time) Wednesday and the plane's crash 60 seconds later. Gulf Air's chief pilot Hameed Ali has said investigators would examine the speed and altitude of Shakeeb's aborted landing as part of their probe. But, he stressed, "we have spotted no error in (Shakeeb's) approach."
Both of the plane's "black boxes" - the flight data and voice cockpit recorders - were to be sent to Washington later Saturday for analysis. Ali refused to speculate on a possible cause of the crash, but emphasized that Shakeeb was an experienced crew member with "6,856 hours and 14 minutes" of flying time. The minimum qualifying time for a Gulf Air pilot is 4,000 hours. Shakeeb, who had eight years of experience, had calmly requested a "go around" from air traffic controllers on his first approach at Bahrain International Airport, according to Gulf Air. After circling once, he aborted his landing attempt without explanation and, one minute later, the Airbus 320 nose-dived into the sea. Shakeeb was among several Bahraini victims buried Friday. Earlier Saturday, caskets wrapped in blue-plaid cloth and bundled in plastic were loaded aboard a Gulf Air Boeing 767 and flown to Cairo with victims' remains and more than 100 relatives who'd come to Bahrain to identify loved ones. Sixty-four Egyptians were killed in the crash. More than 150 relatives were at the Cairo airport when the plane arrived. Women dressed in black wailed their grief as victims' names were called out, and family members were led to ambulances to be taken to independent burial services. "This is the hardest thing on earth for us," said Ali Mohammed Hassan, whose cousin, Reda Hassan, died on the flight. Bahraini authorities at the crash site Saturday were retrieving a few more of the victims' personal belongings on the sandy sea floor and would help bring up wreckage, starting with small pieces, after the mapping. "Time is now of the essence because of the sand - if you don't recover them in the next few days, it will cover up the pieces," Windsor said. Gulf Air has said 135 passengers and eight crew members were on board Flight 072. In addition to the Egyptians aboard, there were 36 Bahrainis, 12 Saudi Arabians, nine Palestinians, six people from the United Arab Emirates, three Chinese, two British, two Omanis and one person from each of the United States, Canada, Kuwait, Sudan, Australia, the Philippines, Poland, India and Morocco. The U.S. Embassy in Bahrain was planning a private memorial service Saturday for the American aboard, Seth Foti, a 31-year-old diplomatic courier. Foti's body was expected to arrive in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, and a private memorial service was being planned in his hometown of Browntown, Virginia. |
