Former TWA Flight 800 investigators want new probe

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

photo Markers for three of the five area residents killed in the crash of TWA Flight 800 are lined up in a cemetery near the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Stevenson, Ala., in this 2006 photo.

NEW YORK - Former investigators of the TWA Flight 800 crash off Long Island are calling on the National Transportation Safety Board to re-examine the case.

The retired investigators claim that findings were "falsified." A documentary on the subject is coming out in July.

The 1996 crash of the Paris-bound flight killed 230 people.

Initial speculation ranged from maintenance problems to a bomb and even a meteorite. Some critics theorized that a Navy missile accidentally brought down the jetliner.

The NTSB concluded that Flight 800 was destroyed by a center fuel tank explosion, probably caused by a spark from a short-circuit in the wiring.

The agency said today its four-year probe remains one of its "most detailed investigations."

The board said it would review any petition it receives from the documentary's producers.