2 Held in Jet Hijacking May Be Released

Rescue workers dragged a chunk of an Ethiopian airplane onto the beach at low tide Monday and used electric saws to free bodies from the jet two days after it was hijacked and crashed into the Indian Ocean.

Two men were arrested in the hijacking, but officials said Monday that they may be innocent. Co-pilot Yonas Mekuria told police he did not recognize the suspects as any of the three hijackers who had refused to let the plane land to refuel.

If the two arrested men are determined to have been passengers, it would mean all the hijackers died, a government spokesman said. The suspects may be released as early as today.

Workers wearing masks zipped bodies into bags and hauled them to a makeshift morgue.

The crash Saturday killed 127 of the 175 people on board. Authorities were having trouble identifying some remains. The dead included at least one U.S. citizen.