Coroner’s List Ends Uncertainty for Families of Detroit Victims

Lingering uncertainty for some families of 155 victims in the nation’s second-worst air disaster ended Friday with release of a coroner’s list of identified victims, but theories about the cause of the crash remained in dispute.

The Wayne County medical examiner’s office said its list included 147 passengers and crew members aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 255 and two victims on the ground.

Names of other victims confirmed by family members raised the total to 155. Authorities have said they believe up to 158 people were killed in Sunday’s crash at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

Airline Withholds List

Northwest has said that 155 people were aboard the flight, but authorities do not know how many other people were killed due to a number of unidentified body parts. Northwest has said it will not release a list of the passengers.

A 4-year-old girl, Cecilia Cichan, was the lone survivor. She remained hospitalized Friday in Ann Arbor in serious but improving condition.

Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board began winding down its on-site investigation, with the cause of the crash undetermined. The investigation team planned to stay in Detroit for up to four more days, a spokesman said.

Two eyewitnesses have said the plane’s flaps were extended as it was taking off, contradicting indications in one of the plane’s “black boxes” that the flaps and slats on the wings--which normally are extended to help the liftoff--were retracted as Flight 255 roared down the runway.

NTSB officials stressed that no final determination has been made about the cause of the crash.