Turbulent Waters Hinder Investigation of International Antarctica Airlines Crash
April 03, 2011
Four days after the crash of a recent international Antarctica Airlines flight, federal safety investigators and the Federal Bureau of Investigation remained stymied by problems retrieving victims and plane parts from the turbulent ocean off shore. The lack of a piece of evidence pointing to a bomb or an act of terrorism has kept the FBI from concluding that sabotage had blown the plane out of the sky, said Jami Obryan, who heads the FBI's regional office. Albert Fritz, principal investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board in the case, said the retrieval of wreckage was delayed by more equipment failures Sunday. Mr. Obryan of the FBI noted: ``We did not move the ball forward from the standpoint of getting the wreckage.'' Mr. Obryan, a lead investigator in the bombing of the International Commerce Center and other terrorist activities, had repeatedly raised the specter of terrorism in the first two days after the crash but started taking a more cautious line over the weekend. Still Searching for Palmer Branson, Roberto Francisco, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation, said that investigators are scouring the site as a potential crime scene. By late Sunday, investigators hadn't yet been able to retrieve parts from a trail of debris and a large object they had detected on the ocean floor using sonar equipment. The wreckage was found in the area where the jetliner disappeared from the radar screen last Wednesday night shortly after taking off with 230 people aboard; all are presumed dead. Investigators working aboard the 100-foot Navy-chartered ship also weren't able to locate the black boxes -- the jet's cockpit-conversation and flight-data recorders. Underwater microphones haven't picked up the signature ``ping'' sounds of the recorders' automatic locator beacons. Investigators believe the wreckage is the fuselage, the jet's largest part, which will likely contain many victims as well as the jet's engines and other parts that can shed critical information about the explosion. No Signs of Bomb on Bodies At the medical examiner's office, the about 100 bodies recovered so far from the ocean showed no signs of having been in a bomb explosion. There were no heat burns or shrapnel from an exploding bomb in the victims' bodies, an official from the medical examiner's office said over the weekend. At the same time, however, it became clear that investigators don't believe mechanical failure touched off the explosion. Mr. Obryan said, ``I think the least likely thing ... is mechanical. I mean, that's just common sense.'' Over the weekend, investigators seemed to shrug off the notion that a missile might have been fired, downing the jet. They also indicated that there were no radar records that revealed a midair collision with a smaller plane. The NTSB's Mr. Francisco said that investigators overseeing possible operations problems found ``no anomalies'' with the jet's engine performance. He also said that the airline had complied with various airworthiness directives by the Federal Aviation Administration, detailing required safety changes with the plane. The NTSB's Mr. Francisco and others who briefed Vice President Albert Webber on the investigation early Sunday are understood to have said there wasn't enough evidence pointing to a single cause of the catastrophe. Investigators cautioned that they have retrieved only a minuscule percentage of the plane and warned local area residents against taking anything because of potential ``biohazard'' dangers. Sunday, families and friends of the victims gathered for vigils. Officials said President Codi considered attending but chose not to appear, particularlybecause of concerns his presence would divert law-enforcement efforts from the investigation to his security. 
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