U.S.

EgyptAir Crash Victims Remembered

October 31, 2000 / 9:15 AM EST / AP

Relatives of the 217 victims of the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 gathered Tuesday, the first anniversary of the disaster, to dedicate a memorial whose rough-hewn sides symbolize their pain.

The granite memorial stands in a seaside park in the city where families went a year ago after the Boeing 767 plunged into the Atlantic off the Massachusetts Island of Nantucket.

More than 500 relatives, friends and dignitaries attended the memorial service, which began about an hour late as buses brought people to Brenton Point State Park. Some mourners held flowers and some cried as a chill wind whipped the tent shielding them.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman James Hall told the mourners his agency was still working diligently to determine the cause of the crash and he hopes to release his final report by December. Hall also expressed the condolences of President Clinton.

"I want you to know that we have continually thought of you throughout this investigation," Hall said. "I hope you can draw some strength from each other and some comfort in knowing people all around the world share your grief."

The Rhode Island medical examiner, Dr. Elizabeth Laposata, told the mourners that 128 of the victims have been identified from the 6,000 tissue fragments recovered from the ocean.

In Egypt, independent religious ceremonies also were held Tuesday to mourn those killed when the plane crashed about an hour after taking off from New York en route to Cairo.

The monument

The monument is roughly hewn on three of its four sides, symbolizing the families' pain and their difficult journey since the crash.

The inscription in gold lettering on a black background reads, "In loving memory of the 217 family members and friends lost on EgyptAir Flight 990. ... May God's eternal light shine upon them."

The final phrase, "They are not gone from us," is inscribed in French, Arabic and English.

On the ground before the monument are 217 bricks etched with the names of those who died aboard the flight.

EgyptAir Lawsuits

Ten lawsuits have been filed claiming mechanical failure caused EgyptAir Flight 990 to crash a year ago Tuesday. The suits filed in federal court in Los Angeles Monday allege the Boeing 767 design had problems with its tail elevators. Tail elevators control the angle of the plane in flight.

The lawsuits name Boeing and flight control manufacturer Parker Hannifin as defendants. The plaintiffs are relatives of 16 residents of the United States, Canada and Egypt who died in the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board has not released a cause of the crash, but the agency says it has found no sign of mechanical failure so far.

Source: Associated Press

"There's nothing beautiful about it," said Jack Afonso of Riverside Stone Co., who created the monument. "This is to commemorate the dead."

Beyond the monument is a panoramic view of the ocean where the plane crashed, the sound of the waves lapping against the rocks a few hundred feet in the distance.

Five coffins of the unidentified remains recovered from the crash site have already been buried in the Island Cemetery. A sixth was to be buried Tuesday in a private service for the families.

The graves will be marked with another monument carved by Afonso, carrying a message similar to the one at the state park.

On Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board will allow families to tour the aircraft wreckage, stored in a hangar at a former Navy base. The NTSB has not released a cause of the crash.

Hall said last week his agency has collected an exhaustive amount of data and has still found no sign of mechanical failure.

Aviation accident experts say an intentional act is the strongest possibility - a scenario Hall would not discuss. He hopes to release the final report by December.

According to evidence collected from the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, co-pilot Gameel El-Batouty was the only person in the cockpit when the plane began diving toward the ocean.

The Boeing 767 was behaving normally until the autopilot and engines were shut off, and El-Batouty began repeatedly uttering the prayer, "I rely on God," leading many to speculate that El-Batouty committed suicide, taking the plane and its passengers with him.

EgyptAir, which is owned by the government, and El-Batouty's relatives vehemently deny the theory. A recent Egyptian book, The One Responsible for the Egyptian Plane Accident, suggests Flight 990 was brought down by a bomb, a missile or mechanical failure.