FBI documents revealed: Egyptian terrorist organization claimed responsibility for 1996 plane crash
TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747 traveling from New York to Paris, exploded shortly after takeoff off the coast of Long Island, killing all 230 passengers and crew on board
Nearly 30 years after the crash of TWA Flight 8019960, newly released FBI documents have reignited debate over what caused one of the deadliest aviation disasters in US history.
According to internal FBI records obtained by the transparency group Judicial Watch and highlighted in a new documentary, an Egyptian terrorist organization contacted the FBI shortly after the July 17, 1996 crash, claiming responsibility for bringing down the aircraft. The documents include references to faxes sent from Cairo just two days after the disaster, in which the group allegedly claimed it had destroyed the plane.
TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747 traveling from New York to Paris, exploded shortly after takeoff off the coast of Long Island, killing all 230 passengers and crew on board.
The newly disclosed documents have fueled renewed scrutiny of the official investigation. Chris Farrell, Judicial Watch's director of investigations, questioned how thoroughly the FBI examined the terror group's claims, arguing that the government's conclusion that an electrical malfunction ignited the aircraft's center fuel tank does not adequately explain the evidence.
Another internal FBI memorandum, dated February 1997, reportedly stated that "despite an abundance of circumstantial evidence indicating that the plane was hit by a missile fired from a maritime platform, the exact cause of the explosion remains a mystery." The memo has prompted fresh speculation that an external explosion may have caused the crash.
The documentary also features physicist Dr. Tom Stalcup, an adviser to families of the victims, who alleges investigators altered portions of the aircraft's wreckage to conceal evidence of damage caused by an external force. Those claims have not been substantiated by official investigators.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) continues to stand by the findings of its years-long investigation, which concluded that the most probable cause of the crash was an explosion in the aircraft's center wing fuel tank, likely triggered by an electrical short circuit. The FBI also closed its criminal investigation in 1997 after finding no evidence that terrorism or any other criminal act caused the disaster.
Following the release of the documentary, Judicial Watch has filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking the release of additional classified records related to the investigation, arguing that further government documents could shed new light on the decades-old case.