Cabinet to review initial US report on Egypt Air plane crash in 1999
Egypt-USA, Local, 4/23/2001

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is to receive two reports from Prime Minster Atef Ebeid on Monday on the economic aspects of the President's European tour and the EgyptAir plane crash off the US east coast in October 1999.

The report will include the initial report of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Ebeid chaired a ministerial meeting on Sunday to discuss the government's response to the NTSB report, which solely blamed the Egyptian pilot Jameel El-Batouti for the crash.

Meanwhile, the families of the victims of Egypt air flight 990 that crashed off US east coast on October 31, 1999, spurned the draft report of the American National Transport Safety Board on the crash.

The families' legal representative lawyer Atef El-Nagmi at a press conference made statements to that end late Sunday.

Nagmi reiterated the families' absolute confidence in Egypt air pilots and their rejection that the NTSB had, alone, carried out the investigations and fished out the results.

He underlined EgyptAir's right to practically and effectively partake in the investigations in conformity with international laws, stressing that the ill-fated plane was an Egyptian airliner carrying the Egyptian flag and that the crash took place in international waters.

The real investigation authority in the crash is EgyptAir, the lawyer said, adding that the Egyptian law does not give the judicial authorities the right to relinquish full responsibility for the investigation.

Nagmi called for setting up a follow-up committee on the crash with full representation of the victims' families who have a direct interest in the probe.

He said that an agreement was reached with a number of American lawyers hired by some of the families to form a panel to challenge the NTSB report which, he asserted, is of no value to the victims' families.

"The families will file a lawsuit demanding EgyptAir to present the investigation documents," said Nagmi.

The American lawyers handling the case are dealing with it as both a criminal and civil case and not a political one, he noted.

On October 31, 1999, EgyptAir flight 990 plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off the US east coast killing all 217 on board.

Previous Stories:
  Egypt's technical response expected soon   (4/21/2001)
  EgyptAir urges NTSB for intensive inquiry into the loss of flight 990   (4/21/2001)
  Egypt invests LE400 billion on infrastructure in 20 years   (4/14/2001)

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