Answers To Twa Puzzle Still Elude Investigators

As the Navy nears the end of its search for debris from TWA Flight 800, another investigative army is already hunting for clues with computers and microscopes.

Two Navy boats, with 100 divers and 450 crew members conducting the salvage operation for the Boeing 747, are expected to leave the search site within two weeks, Rear Adm. Edward Kristensen said Monday.

The aircraft hangar in Calverton now contains more than 90 percent of the pieces of Flight 800. Authorities still say that a bomb, missile or mechanical malfunction could have caused the July 17 explosion that killed all 230 people aboard the Paris-bound jet.

FBI inspector James Kallstrom said that piece that might explain the disaster could already be in the hangar, so investigators are reinspecting the thousands of pieces there.