Investigators to disclose more details on fatal air crash

Electrical wires from the ceiling of the plane were found to exhibit charring and burnt insulation. Keystone / EPA Photo / AFP / National Post / Paul Darrow

Civil aviation officials in Canada are expected to reveal more details on Monday about the possible cause of the 1998 crash of a Swissair airliner off the coast of Nova Scotia, in which all 229 people on board were killed.

Officials investigating the accident are scheduled to hold a news conference in Halifax, at which they will publish a series of fire safety recommendations, according to press reports.

The cause of the crash of the Swissair MD-11 close to Halifax has never been established. Canadian investigators have been painstakingly piecing together and examining the wreckage in the search for clues.

Swiss newspaper reports on Sunday said aviation experts in Britain had been looking into faulty wiring as the possible cause of a series of accidents or near-disasters.

But a Swissair spokesman repeated that the cause of the fire, which broke out on the fatal Swissair crash, was still not known.

The pilots of the doomed plane reported smoke in the cockpit minutes before it crashed into the Atlantic near Halifax.

Previous theories have ranged from faulty wiring or insulation to over-heating halogen lamps in the cockpit.

While the search for the cause of the accident continues, a number of legal cases brought by the victims’ families are pending.

swissinfo