Aviation experts who investigated the 1996 TWA 800 crash are asking the National Transportation Safety Board to reexamine the case because some of the original findings were "falsified," they claim in a new documentary out next month.
TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747, took off from John F. Kennedy International Airport on July 17, 1996, but exploded and crashed off the coast of East Moriches, Long Island, just 12 minutes after leaving the ground. All 230 passengers and crewmembers aboard were killed.
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Despite eyewitness accounts, which "recalled seeing something resembling a flare or firework ascend and culminate in an explosion," the NTSB investigation concluded that a short circuit caused the explosion in the gas tank.
Now, some of the investigators who worked on the case have
come forward and denied the official reports.
"This team of investigators who actually handled the wreckage and victims' bodies, prove that the officially proposed fuel-air explosion did not cause the crash," the producers of the film said in a statement. "They also provide radar and forensic evidence proving that one or more ordnance explosions outside the aircraft caused the crash."
The team claims they were put under a gag order and forbidden from speaking about the real cause of the crash at the time.
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"These investigators were not allowed to speak to the public or refute any comments made by their superiors and/or NTSB and FBI officials about their work at the time of the official investigation," a news release announcing the documentary said. "They waited until after retirement to reveal how the official conclusion by the (NTSB) was falsified and lay out their case."
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