11/28/92 0711
Speculation over cause as relatives mourn at crash site
By NICK DRIVER
BEIJING -- Aviation experts investigated China's worst air crash amid speculative reports the accident may have been caused by falling engine
parts, thunderstorm fireballs or even UFOs, official reports said Saturday.
Investigators continued to sift through tons of evidence from the wreckage of the Boeing 737 which crashed into a mountain near the south China city of Guilin Tuesday. They attempted to decode the black box flight
recorders for clues to the disaster that killed 128 Chinese and 13
foreigners.
But as more than 1,000 relatives gathered Saturday to mourn the
victims at the site of the crash, investigators had not yet explained what caused the Boeing 737 to change course and hit a mountain.
"Whatever caused the plane to drop to 600 meters (2,000 feet) above
sea level in a short two minutes is still an enigma," the China News Service quoted an Guilin airport official as saying.
"Aviation experts use the word 'bizarre' to describe the tragedy,"
the official China News Service said.
The pilot, who had years of flying experience, had radioed the
control tower five minutes before its scheduled landing time to say he would make a normal landing. That was the last message the control tower heard from the pilot.
Villagers reported seeing a large chunk of the jetliner fall off just before it hit the mountain, but three days of extensive searching by 1, 200 soldiers and rescue officials failed to produce any evidence.
"Another odd phenomenon is that the plane exploded into tiny
pieces... there is no sign of the tail of the plane, usually found after
most crashes," the news report said.
News reports quoted villagers and officials saying the crash was
caused by UFOs seen by locals three weeks before the accident.
"A score of people had sighted a light from a UFO in the sky at the site of the crash," the China News Service quoted a local Guilin newspaper as saying.
"The light, which was orange and had a broom-like profile, spun
around counter-clockwise in the sky, then disappeared after 7-8 minutes, "
the reports said.
Other reports quoted experts saying a more likely cause was thunder clouds. "The experts think the (UFOs) might be fireballs resulting from the striking of thunder clouds in the night sky," one report said. "Some aviation experts inferred the plane might have met with strong thunder and could not
be controlled."
A team of Boeing and engine-manufacturer General Electric officials arrived in China Friday to help decode the black box flight recorders and to sift through evidence collected from the wreckage.
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 relatives of Flight CZ 3943's victims held Buddhist ceremonies and grieved at the site of the crash outside the scenic south China city of Guilin, setting off firecrackers and burning paper money, the official China News Service said.
"The people arrived at the foot of the mountain with pictures and
other offerings including flowers, candles, incense and fruit," the official Xinhua news agency reported.
---
þ Synchronet þ Rick's BBS - telnet://ricksbbs.synchro.net:23