ValuJet searchers to dig up wetlands

Radar spots more debris in crash crater

May 23, 1996
Web posted at: 3:30 p.m. EDT

DADE COUNTY, Florida (CNN) -- Wreckage from all sections of ValuJet Flight 592 has been found in the murky waters of the Florida Everglades, investigators said Thursday.

But all the pieces recovered so far account for only about one-quarter of the entire plane, and the DC-9's all-important cockpit voice recorder remains missing. The jet crashed May 11, killing all 110 people aboard.

Although heavy-duty dredging equipment was at the site, searchers were awaiting an emergency permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to allow them to dig in the environmentally sensitive wetlands. The permit was expected Thursday.

Recovery workers resumed shoulder-to-shoulder searches of the swamp surrounding the main crater, using rakes, gaff hooks and their hands to sort through the silt and sawgrass. They hoped that dredging would bring up more pieces of the plane, Metro-Dade Police Detective Ed Munn said. (195K AIFF or WAV sound)

"We have now located parts to all sections of the plane," National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Pat Cariseo said. "There is not a section of the plane that is not accounted for at this time."

Radar finds more debris

Cariseo said a ground-penetrating radar-like device shows there may be pieces up to 5 feet long in the crater formed by the initial impact of the crash. Divers who probed the crater on Tuesday found little more than two pieces of fuselage no bigger than a table.

The plane probably disintegrated on impact after striking limestone under the water's surface with a force of between 2 million and 5 million pounds, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reported Thursday.

Miami Bureau Chief John Zarella contributed to this report.

Related stories:

• 'People, don't get on this plane' - May 23, 1996
• U.S. to ban oxygen generators as air cargo - May 22, 1996
• ValuJet searchers to dredge crash crater - May 22, 1996
• 'There's no airplane left' - May 21, 1996
• CNNfn - ValuJet co-founder sells 1.5 million shares - May 21, 1996
• Divers find little in probe of ValuJet crash crater - May 21, 1996

Related sites:

• Federal Aviation Administration
• ValuJet home page

Related newsgroups:

• alt.disasters.aviation
• rec.travel.air

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