Retrieval Begins of EgyptAir Crash Remains

A specially equipped salvage ship Monday began retrieving human remains from the underwater debris of EgyptAir Flight 990, as the FBI began taking a more visible role in the investigation.

Speaking at a news conference in Rhode Island, FBI Director Louis J. Freeh and National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall described a joint visit to the vessel, the Smit Pioneer, which by early afternoon had brought up about 50 crane loads of heavily silted aircraft parts, personal effects and human remains from a depth of about 250 feet.

The news conference marked the first time the two officials have briefed the media together since the air disaster that killed all 217 people aboard the Los Angeles-New York-Cairo flight Oct. 31. Freeh said that 34 FBI technicians and agents are assigned to the salvage ship, helping to ensure that evidence is properly handled. That compares with a complement of four investigators on the ship from the NTSB.

The Boeing 767 plunged suddenly into the Atlantic some 60 miles south of Nantucket Island after about 30 minutes of routine flight out of New York. Hall said that his agency remains in charge of the investigation but that no evidence has emerged to refute the hypothesis that the plane was deliberately brought down by a member of the crew. Investigators’ attention has focused on co-pilot Gamil El Batouty, although they have established no reason why he would want to crash the aircraft.

“It’s a very joint effort,” Hall said of the investigation. “But NTSB is in charge of the effort. We have not reached any conclusions.”

Said Freeh: “My presence here is in a supporting role.”

Last month, Hall had sought to turn the investigation over to the FBI, as required when evidence points to a criminal act. Protests from Egypt forced an indefinite postponement of that decision and the FBI has continued to quietly assist safety investigators.

According to a U.S. official, Egypt still rejects any suggestion that the co-pilot could have been responsible. In the latest in the ongoing debates over the evidence, Egyptian officials have asked U.S. investigators to determine whether there is another, mysterious voice on the plane’s cockpit voice recorder. U.S. officials do not believe so but are conducting further analyses of the tape.

“The implication is that there may have been someone coercing the crew,” the official said. “If there was a hijack situation, that has less of an impact than if a pilot has committed suicide and murdered a bunch of people.”

Previous information from the plane’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders has shown that there was no mechanical failure or explosion and that the fatal dive appears to have been deliberately initiated. There were signs of a struggle over the controls, with the captain allegedly trying to save the aircraft.

Hall and Freeh said that the salvage effort, which began around midnight Sunday, is going smoothly.

Freeh declined to provide any details on the human remains recovered thus far, citing deference to families of victims. Among the pieces of wreckage recovered are an 8-foot section of fuselage with three window spaces, a nose wheel and a piece of a landing gear.

Sonar had previously located two fields of wreckage, and work has begun on the largest of those, which is also the farthest from shore. NTSB officials said that their goal is to recover as much of the wreckage as possible. Parts of the cockpit are of special interest.