Egypt rejects air crash report

Egypt says evidence does not support the suicide theory

Egypt has reacted angrily to the draft report by American experts into the crash of an Egyptian airliner off the coast of the United States in October 1999.

Although the conclusions of the report have not been made public, the Egyptian government said its findings were nothing but "unacceptable speculation".

Egypt has always rejected a theory that the co-pilot of the airliner deliberately crashed it, killing all 217 people on board.

The airline, Egypt Air, which last year accepted liability but not responsibility for the crash, has demanded that the investigation continue.

This is media propaganda

Walid al-Batouty, co-pilot's nephew

Ibrahim el-Dimeiri, who as transport minister is Egypt's most senior civil aviation official, told the Middle East News Agency he had ordered investigators to draft a technical response to the report.

Egypt has 60 days to submit its own conclusions before the document is finalised.

'Cover-up'

Gameel el-Batouty: EgyptAir rejects suicide theory

The report, by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) does nothing to contradict the US theory that the crash was deliberate, the Associated Press news agency reported on Thursday. Mechanical problems were reportedly ruled out.

The family of the co-pilot, Gamil al-Batouty, has continued to reject the possibility that he was trying to commit suicide and branded the report "media propaganda".

"It is sponsored by those who are trying to cover up whatever happened to this plane," said Walid El Batouty, nephew of the dead co-pilot and spokesman for families of the Egyptian victims.

There were no survivors from the crash

On Thursday EgyptAir urged the NTSB to look more closely at possible mechanical explanations for the crash. It has been focusing on the plane's elevator panels - movable components on the tail that control the up and down movement of the plane.

"We urge the NTSB, the FAA and Boeing to continue to press their inquiry into what caused the loss of Flight 990 and to consider the possibility there might be an inherent flaw in the design and/or maintenance procedures of the Boeing 767 flight control system," said a press release from the airline on Wednesday.