NEW YORK (AP) — Federal investigators are denying a petition to reopen their inquiry into the July 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 off the coast of New York’s Long Island.
The National Transportation Safety Board says Wednesday it’s sticking by its original finding that a fuel tank explosion likely caused the crash.
A group called The TWA 800 Project petitioned the agency last year to reconsider and modify its findings.
They claimed “a detonation or high velocity explosion” caused the crash, which killed 230 passengers and crew.
The Paris-bound Boeing 747 went down in the Atlantic Ocean 12 minutes after takeoff from New York’s Kennedy Airport.
The group used radar scans and statements from witnesses who claimed seeing a “streak of light” to support their theory that a missile struck the jet.
