Conspiracy theories abound in Egypt on plane crash By Esmat Salaheddin CAIRO, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Conspiracy theories abound in Egypt over the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 off the eastern United States two weeks ago with the loss of 217 lives. Local media reports seem generally agreed that it was a plot against Egyptian interests. But they differ on who was behind it, variously accusing U.S., Israeli or other unspecified foreign agents of involvement. The mystery deepened when data from one of the Boeing 767's two flight recorders, which was recovered off Massachusetts on Tuesday, showed an uneventful flight before an apparently controlled descent with the autopilot disengaged followed by a climb and then further descent. A final five to 10 seconds of data is still being analysed. Jim Hall, chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, said in Washington on Wednesday that recovery of the plane's cockpit voice recorder would help put the flight data in context. On Thursday, rising seas forced U.S. Navy vessels searching for the voice recorder back to port. OPPOSITION PAPER SEES ISRAELI INVOLVEMENT Abbas Tarabili, chief editor of the Egyptian opposition daily Al Wafd, said on Thursday in his front-page column: ``I am certain that Israel's fingers are not far away. ``When Israel finds an 'Egyptian gift' of 33 Egyptian military officers from all branches on one civilian plane and who just ended their training in the United States, it will not miss this opportunity,'' he added. Another paper, al-Shaab, said it ``found out'' the 33 officers had proved to be such geniuses that foreign secret services decided not to allow them to return home. The opposition Al-Arabi weighed in, saying the only assumption left was that there was a criminal act of destruction, with explosives planted in the fuel tank, one of the engines or the cockpit. ``The destructive act aimed to revenge and hit Egyptian interests,'' said the paper under a red banner reading, ``Evidence of (Israeli secret service) Mossad involvement in blowing up the Egyptian airliner.'' State-run media also joined in the chorus. The government-owned weekly al-Mosawwar asked at the end of a long article: ``Has an intelligence agency recruited an airport employee who planted explosives on board the plane, particularly with 33 military officers and eight oil experts among the passengers?'' MISSILE LAUNCHED IN ERROR? The daily al-Gomhuria's chief editor, Samir Ragab, talked of a missile launched in error. The independent Al-Usbua went as far as to publish a detailed explanation of the incident, saying in an unsourced report that the airliner flew over a no-fly military zone. ``Information pointed out that the area, where the Egyptian and American (TWA) airliners and John Kennedy (Junior) crashed, is a risky and no-fly zone... due to the presence of the largest U.S. military base. ``That base is the 'first' in developing U.S. nuclear arms and missiles,'' said the report by Mahmoud Bakri. ``The U.S. administration did not want to change flight lanes because it considered such action would raise several questions about the reasons...making foreign countries try to find answers through their espionage activities,'' he added. Bakri said some Egyptian passengers had warned security personnel at New York's John F. Kennedy airport that saboteurs could infiltrate, thanks to lax security, and reach the plane. Another scenario outlined by Bakri was that air traffic control officers guided the plane intentionally into the no-fly zone, ``particularly as Jews have strong networks of communication at U.S. airports.'' ``If this is proven, Israel would have been directly involved in the crash,'' Bakri concluded. 12:11 11-11-99 Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
