ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 18, 1996 TAG: 9607180087
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: From Newsday and The Associated Press note: lede
A TWA jumbo jetliner plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island Wednesday night with 229 people aboard, apparently after exploding in midair in an orange fireball visible from the shore.
Flight 800 from John F. Kennedy Airport to Charles DeGaulle Airport in Paris had reached about 7,500 feet before crashing about 8:40 p.m. 10 to 20 miles off Moriches Inlet, at the eastern end of Long Island, Coast Guard and Port Authority spokesmen said.
``The flight right after it ... saw it become a fireball and watched it fall out of the sky,'' said one high-ranking Federal Aviation Administration official.
Boats and planes were immediately sent to the scene.
``They've got bodies down all over the place,'' said Andrew Feldman, the chairman of disaster communication for the Suffolk County chapter of the American Red Cross. ``I've been listening to air and sea rescue. All they have is bodies floating. There's no sign of recovery.''
One witness on the shore, Robert Siriani, 20, said he saw a massive, silent ball of flame falling from the sky into the ocean as he walked to his car from his parents' home in Mastic Beach.
``I looked at the bay and saw a reflection on the water, then I looked up and I saw a big orange fireball falling into the ocean,'' he said. ``I'd say it was 100 feet wide and a couple of hundred feet long, the whole thing was flames, the flames were so bright I didn't see anything else.
``Something of that size, it just floated; it took a very long time to come down,'' he said. ``It must have been really up in the sky. Then as it hit the water I saw one flame come up from the water and that was it, it was gone. I didn't even hear anything. It was so silent.''
Siriani ran into his house to tell his parents, but by the time they called 911 the number was flooded with reports of the crash.
There were 212 passengers and 17 crew members on the flight, according to Mike Kelly, a TWA vice president. He said the plane had arrived from Athens, Greece, and had been on the ground about three hours before taking off for Paris. Some of the passengers were on board from an earlier canceled flight to Rome.
Kelly noted the FAA had been placed on an increased level of security because of the Olympics, which start Friday, but said there had been no specific threats against TWA or the flight.
``Anything is possible,'' Kelly said.
The apparent magnitude of the explosion led FAA officials to say immediately that they would look into a bomb as one of the possible causes of the crash. They also said they sent a team of investigators to the crash site who will be looking for - among other things - evidence of a bomb.
TWA has released a number for relatives seeking information on passengers on TWA Flight 800. It is (800) 438-9892. The airline says only relatives of people believed to have been on the plane should call.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB