ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 25, 1996 TAG: 9607250068
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: EAST MORICHES, N.Y.
SOURCE: Associated Press note: lede
A Navy ship, using an underwater videocamera Wednesday night, spotted the two onboard recorders from Trans World Airlines Flight 800, giving investigators their first major break in determining why the Boeing 747 fell from the sky just a week ago.
Robert Francis, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said, the 275-foot USS Grasp saw the characteristic striped orange boxes that house the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder on its first evening of exploring an area that he had earlier called the ``richest concentrated area of wreckage'' where the plane went down with 230 people aboard the evening of July 17. Divers searching the wreckage of TWA Flight 800 have found the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, a source close to the investigation said Wednesday.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the divers were in the process of bringing the so-called black boxes to the surface. The source would not say exactly where in the wreckage the boxes were found, how they were located or their condition.
Investigators expect the black boxes to provide crucial evidence about what caused the 747 to explode in a fireball and plunge into the Atlantic Ocean.
The voice recorder picks up cockpit conversations and could indicate whether the crew knew if there was a problem before the crash. The data recorder picks up altitude, speed and engine measurements, and could determine if there was a mechanical problem.
The recovery of the boxes, coming one week after the crash represented a major breakthrough in what until now had been a recovery effort notable for what it had not found. The FBI has not determined whether it was downed by a bomb, a missile or mechanical failure.
Victims' relatives have been complaining bitterly about the pace of the search, and the White House said President Clinton would fly to New York today to meet them.
``This is a political thing,'' complained Michel Olivier, one of several relatives of French victims who urged the French government to send technical assistance. That offer was made, and turned down, said France's counsel in New York, Patrick Gautrat.
Meantime, three more bodies were brought ashore earlier Wednesday. Of the 230 people who were killed, 116 bodies were still missing. Of the bodies recovered, 95 have been identified by the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's office.
Divers also believe they have spotted seven more bodies in the wreckage, Francis said.
Working about 100 feet down Wednesday on a sandy ocean floor that puffs up silt when stepped on, about 75 Navy divers negotiated their way through wires and cables that hang over the wreckage like a spider web.
``Large aircraft have miles and miles of wires,'' said Ray Downing, a supervisor of New York City Fire Department divers. ``If it becomes loose, it floats.'' On Tuesday, one diver had to cut himself free.
After relatives demanded to get more information about recovery efforts, Francis said investigators would now tell families first whenever bodies are recovered. The Washington Post contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Mourners embrace at the grave of crash victim Donnaby CNBGriffith in Westhampton, N.Y., on Wednesday. color.