Search for clues as New York faces grief … again

Investigators are checking who had access to the American Airlines Airbus in the hours before its fatal flight, as they try to determine if a catastrophic mechanical failure or something more sinister caused yesterday's crash.

But last night, the signs were pointing to the crash being an accident.

The US National Transportation Safety Board was leading the investigation - an indication that authorities have no information other than that a mechanical malfunction and not a terrorist attack brought down Flight 587.

The crash killed 260 passengers and crew. At least six people on the ground were missing. Most killed were believed to be Dominicans going home for the holidays.

Three minutes after take-off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, the airliner spiralled nose-first into the Rockaway Beach section of Queens, a middle-class neighbourhood 25km from Manhattan.

Witnesses reported hearing an explosion and seeing an engine, a large chunk of a wing and other debris falling off the plane as it came down.

"I saw pieces falling out of the sky," said Jennifer Rivara, who watched through a window of her home about five blocks away.

"Then I looked over to my left and I saw this huge fireball, and the next thing I know, I hear this big rumbling sound. I ran to the door and all I saw was big black smoke."

The pilot dumped fuel moments before the crash, strengthening the probability of mechanical failure as the crash cause, authorities said.

"All information we have is that this is an accident," said Marion Blakey, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

If there was an explosion on the plane, as many witnesses reported, it was probably caused by a mechanical failure, investigators said.

Authorities found the cockpit voice recorder, one of the two "black boxes" from the twin-engine jet.

The search continued for the flight data recorder.

The voice recorder has been taken to Washington for analysis, and could provide details about events aboard the plane before it plunged to the ground.

The plane was given a routine maintenance check the night before the flight. Investigators were checking who had access to the plane during those hours.

The Airbus had two CF6-80C2 engines made by General Electric. In March, the FAA directed airlines to inspect such engines for possible cracks in turbine rotor discs.

The cracks could cause the discs to fly apart and prompt engine failure, the FAA said.

The alert was issued after the FAA received a report of an engine failure during a maintenance run on the ground.

Flight 587 was 74 minutes late taking off because of security measures set up after the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

American Airlines said 251 passengers, including five infants sitting on their parents' laps, and nine crew members were on board.

By evening, 258 bodies had been recovered.

Six houses were destroyed, and six others seriously damaged.

As night fell, several hundred people working under the glare of lights formed bucket brigades and separated debris into piles of luggage, plane parts and human remains.

Police said bodies were being recovered intact. One, a man, was found clutching a baby.

In Washington yesterday, President George W. Bush met advisers seeking details of the crash.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said there were no "unusual communications" from the cockpit, and a senior Administration official said that no threats against airplanes had been received.

Last night, the rectory of St Francis de Sales, one block from the crash site, was still being used as an emergency command centre.

Its pastor, Monsignor Martin Geraghty, was blessing bodies as they were recovered.

Firefighter Joe O'Brien accompanied the priest. The monsignor blessed about 20 bodies, which were being laid out on the street right in front of the crash site, he said.

"Right now they're just recovering bodies.

"The FBI is looking for evidence. And the priests are down there consoling firemen."

The suburb was suffering a double tragedy.

It lost scores of its people, including firefighters and financial workers, in the Trade Center catastrophe two months ago.

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Map: crash area

American Airlines information (from within NZ):
Tel: 0168 1 800 245 0999