Struggle theory backed by tapes

WASHINGTON - Investigators are increasingly convinced that passengers on board United Airlines flight 93 were involved in a frantic struggle with the hijackers who took over their plane - possibly diverting it from its intended target and causing it to crash in rural Pennsylvania.

In the aftermath of the attacks, a telephone operator reported how one of the passengers, Todd Beamer, had called from the plane, saying that it had been hijacked and that he and two other passengers, armed only with plastic butter knives, planned to take on the hijackers.

After reciting the 23rd Psalm with Mr Beamer, the operator heard the 32-year-old businessman launch into the fray with the words: "Are you guys ready? Let's roll."

Now, recordings obtained from the recovered flight recorders are providing information that supports the theory that the doomed passengers prevented the hijackers from destroying another target, possibly the White House.

The New York Times reported that the recording, which was played to Attorney-General John Ashcroft and FBI director Robert Mueller, suggested that a "desperate and wild" struggle took place.

Law enforcement officials told the paper that the voice recorder picked up scuffling sounds as well as shouts in Arabic and English, but experts have not yet been able to discern what was happening or determine who among the passengers, crew members or hijackers was involved in the struggle.

In the past week, officials have said that the passengers appeared to have stormed the cockpit after the four hijackers commandeered the flight.

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