ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 8, 1996 TAG: 9608080058
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
35 bodies may never be found
EAST MORICHES, N.Y. - Divers are ``increasingly unlikely'' to find any of the 35 bodies still missing from the explosion of TWA Flight 800, the head of the investigation said Wednesday.
Most of the large pieces of wreckage that might conceal trapped bodies have been recovered, National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Robert Francis said.
Earlier Wednesday, divers raised a fire-damaged 75-foot length of the plane's right wing. Crews also brought ashore the cockpit's sheared-off windshield, a piece of fuselage with nine windows, and a stainless-steel toilet, among other items.
``There are not the kinds of pieces of wreckage out there anymore where we can expect to find bodies,'' Francis said.
``It's not fair to people to think there's a huge piece of wreckage down there that's going to be covering up 30 bodies.''
So far, 195 of the 230 people killed in the July 17 explosion have been recovered, but none in the last two days, and the medical examiner has closed a temporary morgue at a Coast Guard station near the recovery site.
- Associated Press
Postal service changes parcel rules
WASHINGTON - People who want to mail items weighing more than a pound will have to start showing up at the post office in person.
The U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday that, starting Aug. 16, it will change procedures for handling parcels to increase the security of commercial airlines carrying mail.
Concerns about security have increased since the crash of TWA Flight 800, though that disaster has not yet been blamed on a bomb.
The postal moves were made in cooperation with the Federal Aviation Administration. Similar steps were taken in California when the Unabomber threatened to bomb an aircraft from that state.
- Associated Press
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