TWA probe centers on burned seats

Noise remains a mystery;
2 more bodies recovered

EAST MORICHES, New York (CNN) -- The investigation into what caused the crash of TWA Flight 800 focused Wednesday on signs of burn damage on seats from the right side of the aircraft.

Sources close to the investigation said the signs of burn damage on seats from rows 17 through 28 -- roughly 50 percent of which have been recovered -- are further evidence that whatever caused the plane to go down probably occurred on the right side of the plane in the cabin area above the wings.

Investigators are now looking at whether a bomb could have been hidden in carry-on luggage, in an overhead baggage compartment, under a seat, or in the central food galley, the sources said.

Other investigators into the July 17 crash that killed all 230 people aboard are using computers to analyze tapes from the jet's cockpit voice recorder. National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Robert Francis said the tapes reflect a normal flight up to the final second. That second ends with what Francis calls a "loud unknown noise."

Investigators say the noise does not sound like anything heard on cockpit voice recorders in airline bombings, according to a White House official who's monitoring the case.

The official told CNN the sound may have come from a fuel tank explosion on the Boeing 747, but investigators can't be sure because there's never been a recording of such an explosion to use as a comparison.

The Suffolk County Medical Examiner's office said Wednesday two more bodies had been recovered from the wreckage in the ocean off Long Island, bringing the total 208. Of those, 206 have been identified.

Diving operations in the TWA Flight 800 recovery effort were suspended Wednesday morning because of strong wind and high waves, but they resumed in the afternoon.

Related stories:

• Engines ruled out as cause of TWA crash - August 19, 1996
• Families of crash victims: let 'professionals' handle us - August 19, 1996

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