Searchers Recover 2 TWA Jet Engines

Two of the four engines from TWA Flight 800 were brought to shore Friday, providing federal officials with potentially crucial pieces of evidence in their search for the cause of the crash.

Robert Francis, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said part of a third engine also was found, but not yet retrieved from the ocean floor off Long Island. The fourth engine remains to be found.

With 40% to 45% of the jumbo jet now recovered, Francis said experts hope that the engines might provide intricate details into what caused the July 17 disaster--particularly whether the engines shorted out because of an internal malfunction or were damaged by a bomb inside the plane or by a missile striking it from below.

The two engines recovered are the outside engine on the left wing and the inside engine on the right side.

“The engine experts will look to see if the engines were operating normally at the time that the event, whatever it is, occurred,” Francis said. “That will be their first major interest. There’s enough evidence out there from all four engines eventually to be able to tell if they were working normally.

“If they weren’t, then we’ll be proceeding along wherever that evidence takes us.”

Francis said that at the same time, Navy divers and salvage workers continue to search for more wreckage. The work is growing increasingly tedious. He said scuba divers have described the underwater search as like swimming in and around “razor blades.”

Nevertheless, Francis said: “We’re continuing to follow the wreckage wherever it leads us. We’re not prejudging things.”

All 230 passengers and crew members were killed when the Boeing 747 exploded about 12 miles out to sea from East Moriches, N.Y.

Officials reported no change in their search for victims on Friday, with the number of bodies recovered still at 196. With the recovery effort lagging in recent days, officials continued to warn that it is very unlikely all of the victims will be found.

James K. Kallstrom, an assistant FBI director, still declined to speculate on what may have caused the plane to go down. He said interviews and other investigative work is continuing.

But he did say Friday that while FBI agents have interviewed extensively those TWA employees who had access to the plane--including those loading cargo and luggage--there have been “no great big golden nuggets” gleaned so far.

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Also Friday, a contingent of members of Congress and Clinton administration officials toured the recovery site. Officials estimated that the recovery effort and investigations have already cost taxpayers “millions of dollars.”

“Suffolk County is spending money way above their budget,” Kallstrom said. “I’m sure the Navy is. The FBI certainly is. I’m sure the NTSB is.”

Francis said the recovery and investigative teams have been assured that no costs will be spared to find out what happened. “They offered us every help they could give us.”

But he said that he also cautioned the Washington officials not to hope for quick answers, especially since three weeks have gone by and more than half of the plane still remains scattered on the ocean floor.

“The level of expectation has to be kept in control,” Francis said. “We have to do this the right way.”