EgyptAir denies US magazine claims on crash probes

Egypt's national carrier yesterday vehemently denied a report carried by a US magazine which claimed that Egyptian investigators, who probed the 1999 crash of an EgyptAir plane, had privately agreed with the US view that suicide was the likely reason for the tragedy.

"Had there been the slightest belief in the US view, or had the US side got convincing proofs of its view, probes would have long ended," said an official source at EgyptAir. He was commenting on a report appearing in Newsweek magazine which said that US intelligence agencies had secretly monitored communications between Cairo and the Egyptian investigators who were in Washington at the time.

"Intelligence sources say the intercepts reveal that despite their public stance, the Egyptian investigators privately agreed with their US counterparts that suicide was the likely cause of the crash," said the magazine.

All 217 people aboard EgyptAir Flight 990 were killed when the aircraft plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off the US on October 31, 1999.

"This is downright ill-founded," said Ashraf el-Hawari, the secretary general of the Egyptian Pilots Association. He was commenting on the Newsweek report. El Hawari cited a statement by a recent world aviation gathering stating that probes into the Egyptian plane crash had made prejudgments without conclusive evidence.

Egyptian authorities have long rejected any suggestion that Gamil el-Batouti, a co-pilot on the ill-fated plane, may have deliberately crashed the aircraft. They have urged US investigators to look more closely at the Boeing 767's elevators panels to determine if they malfunctioned.