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EgyptAir Denies Report Of 'Agreement' With Plane Crash Verdict 6-24-01 CAIRO, (AFP) - Egypt's airline and pilots' union rejected Monday a report in the US magazine Newsweek that Egyptian investigators privately agreed with their US counterparts that a co-pilot's suicide was the likely cause of an October 1999 EgyptAir crash in which 217 people died. � � "The report published in Newsweek is false," said a high-ranking EgyptAir official on condition of anonymity. � � Newsweek reported Sunday that US intelligence intercepts revealed that Egyptian investigators secretly agreed with US findings that the plane's co-pilot, Gamil al-Battuti, intentionally crashed the Boeing jet into the Atlantic shortly after take-off from New York on October 31, 1999, with the aim of killing himself. � � "It is inconceivable that a member of the Egyptian investigation commission would admit to the allegation of suicide by Gamil al-Battuti," the EgyptAir official said. � � The accusation, first leaked by US officials in late 1999, has long enraged the Egyptian public. � � "If we were convinced, even slightly, of the US point of view concerning the accident's cause ... the investigation would have already been completed without consuming so much time and effort on the part of the Egyptian team for uncovering the truth," the official said. � � EgyptAir's managing director Mohamed Fahim Rayyan has already rejected the suicide theory. � � The Egyptian pilots' union also denounced the Newsweek story as "lacking all foundation," said pilot Ashraf al-Hawwari, the union's secretary. � � "The US authorities have tried since the beginning to throw all responsibility for the accident on the Egyptian pilots," al-Hawwari said. � � An Egyptian opposition daily, Al-Wafd, also attacked the Newsweek report, saying Washington had sparked an "espionage scandal" by eavesdropping on EgyptAir officials investigating the crash. � � Al-Wafd, run by the liberal opposition party of the same name, ran with the front-page headline: "American espionage scandal against Egypt." � � The United States is "a state founded on monitoring and espionage" which is "not ashamed to spy on itself as shown by the Watergate scandal, when the president (Richard Nixon) spied on his adversaries," it charged. � � "Will Egypt keep quiet on this flagrant violation and what justification will Washington give Cairo about this crime?" asked Al-Wafd, which concluded the authorities here will opt for "silence." � � The National Transportation Safety Board is due to release its final report on the crash, which concludes that Battuti caused the Boeing to dive into the ocean, Newsweek said. � � Newsweek also quoted US officials as saying Egyptian authorities blocked efforts by US investigators to look into Battuti's lifestyle. � � Egyptian authorities have demanded the report be based on facts alone, and according to Newsweek insist the crash was caused by a mechanical problem. � � The Egyptian government and state-run newspapers have made no comment on the Newsweek story. |
