Series of Real-time EmergencyNet News Reports Concerning the Crash of SwissAir Flt. 111, near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia on 02 Sept 98
EmergencyNet News *FLASH* Report
09/02/98 - 22:03CDT
Early Report of Swiss Air Jet Down In Nova Scotia
By C. L. Staten, Sr. Analyst
(EmergencyNet News) Preliminary and officially unconfirmed reports are coming in of a
possible plane crash of a Swiss Air Jet that departed from JFK airport in New York. The
crash is being reported in Blanford, Nova Scotia. 150 souls are reported on board the jet.
Further information is sketchy and EmergencyNet News is gathering additional data. Further
details as they become available...
09/02/98 - 22:55CDT
SwissAir Flt. 111 Reported Down, Believed Crashed in Water
By C. L. Staten, Sr. Analyst
Halifax, Nova Scotia (EmergencyNet News) -- According to an official from the Halifax
Rescue Coordination Center, A SwissAir plane containing as many as 227 passengers and 14
crew went down in the water seven miles off the coast of Nova Scotia. It is believed that
the crew of the downed plane did declare an emergency at about 22:30EDT and may have
attempted an emergency landing at Halifax airport. The aircraft, Flt. 111, was departing
JFK airport in New York, enroute to Zurich, Switzerland.
Emergency officials say that they have dispatched as many as fifty (50) ambulances and
that Coast Guard and other boats are enroute or already searching the area, where it is
believed the plane went down. No reports have been received of survivors, injuries, or
number of fatalities. Few other official details are available at the time of this report.
EmergencyNet News will continue to monitor events in Nova Scotia and provide additional
reports as circumstances warrant.
Excerpted from: ERRI EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORT-EmergencyNet NEWS Service
- Thursday, September 3, 1998 - Vol. 2 - 246
ZURICH (EmergencyNet News) - The chief executive of Swissair parent company SAirGroup said
Thursday he did not believe any of the 229 passengers and crew on board the jet that
crashed into the sea off Nova Scotia had survived. Philippe Bruggisser said at Zurich's
airport, "We expect no survivors." In Nova Scotia, rescue workers pulled 18
bodies from the Atlantic. The Swissair wide-bodied MD-11, Flight 111 en route from New
York to Geneva, crashed off Nova Scotia at 2130 EDT Wednesday as it prepared to make an
emergency landing. Witnesses who saw the offshore debris field reported that many bodies
were being recovered by navy ships and local fishing vessels. Rescue officials said no
survivors had been found.
GENEVA (EmergencyNet News) - A senior Swissair official said Thursday there was no
indication that its airliner that crashed with 229 passengers and crew aboard off Canada's
east coast was a victim of terrorism. Swissair chief financial officer Georges Schorderet
said at Geneva's Cointrin airport, destination of Flight 111 en route from New York:
"There is no indication of a terrorist attack." Earlier, a Swissair statement
issued in Zurich said the pilot had reported smoke in the cockpit and had attempted to
make an emergency landing at Halifax airport. Schorderet said that the SwissAir
wide-bodied MD-11 was in "perfect working order and all services and checks had been
made in accordance with our standards."
*****
ESR CLOSE UP
NO SUVIVORS OF SWISS AIRLINER THAT GOES DOWN IN THE
ATLANTIC ...
From the ERRI Watch Center
PEGGY'S COVE, NOVA SCOTIA (EmergencyNet News) - No survivors were found on Thursday after
a Swissair plane with 229 passengers and crew crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Canada's
coast. As of last report, at least 18 bodies had been recovered from the crash site.
The Swissair MD-11, Flight 111 en route from New York to Geneva, crashed off Nova Scotia
at 2130 EDT on Wednesday (0130 GMT on Thursday) as it prepared to make an emergency
landing. Both Swissair and the MD-11 aircraft type had exceptional safety records before
the crash.
The crew reported smoke in the cockpit and the wide-bodied plane crashed as it tried to
make an emergency landing at Halifax airport about one hour, 40 minutes after taking off
from New York City. Swissair officials said a total of 215 passengers including two
infants and 14 crew were aboard Flight 111. A Delta Air Lines spokesman said 53 Delta
passengers and one Delta flight attendant were on the Swissair MD-11 because it was a
"code-sharing" flight that could carry Delta ticket-holders.
Sixteen bodies were picked up by fishing boats from the sea before dawn on Thursday while
another two bodies washed up on shore. No survivors had been found in the cold North
Atlantic waters.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) said the area where dozens of ships were
searching was eerie with flares hanging over the water, where bodies, pieces of bodies,
torn life rafts, life jackets and bits of the plane were floating. Emergency crews said
increasingly rough seas and a gathering fog were hampering the grim search for survivors.
A flotilla of boats -- a dozen military planes and helicopters, two warships and dozens of
regular and auxiliary Canadian Coast Guard vessels and fishing boats -- combed through the
oily debris field five nautical miles south of the town of Peggy's Cove as Hurricane
Danielle neared Nova Scotia.
Residents in the small town of Blandford said a very low-flying aircraft screamed overhead
followed by a loud bang. The plane's pilot radioed Halifax traffic controllers at 2122 EDT
(0122 GMT) to report smoke in the cabin and that fuel was being dumped in preparation for
an emergency landing in Halifax.
One Blandford area resident described: "I thought at first it was a helicopter, all I
heard was a big boom like a sonic boom. The plane went right over head, it was very, very
low. It sounded terrible."
Another resident said, "It wasn't the smooth sound of an airplane. I heard the crash
and a clap of thunder that shook the house."
A third resident reported: "The motors were still going when the plane flew over. but
it was the worst-sounding deep groan that I've ever heard."
Other witnesses said nurses and firefighters were carried out to sea to the scene by
rescue ships. Emergency officials were concerned about rain beginning to fall as Hurricane
Danielle approached Nova Scotia's coast. It was expected to reach the Canadian shoreline
by morning.
Swissair chief financial officer Georges Schorderet in Geneva said, "There is no
indication of a terrorist attack."
Officials with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation
Administration and FBI were on hand at Kennedy airport and high- level city officials
including Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Aviation experts say that both Swissair and its MD-11 planes had very good safety records
before Wednesday's crash. Swissair said that the downed plane was seven years old,
comparatively new by the standards of most U.S. domestic passenger jet aircraft.
EmergencyNet News - Special Report
09/03/98 - 11:00CDT
Cause of the Crash Undetermined At This Time
By Paul Anderson, Metro Correspondent/Analyst
Chicago, IL (EmergencyNet News) -- "It would be entirely premature and speculative to
try to determine the cause of the SwissAir crash at this time," according to Clark
Staten, Executive Director of the Chicago-based Emergency Response & Research
Institute (ERRI). "We are sure that there are concurrent investigations being
conducted by at least the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canadian Transportation Safety
Board, U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the FBI, and
New York City officials, at this time,' Staten added. "There is much more evidence to
be gathered and many more facts to be obtained before anything firm can be
ascertained," he concluded.
The Emergency Response & Research Institute (ERRI) is well known in the emergency
community for it's extensive expertise and reporting of the TWA-800 crash, other aviation
disasters, and the emergency response thereto. Additionally, ERRI has been studying,
analyzing, and reporting on Anti/Counter terrorism issues for more than 10 years. Staten
said
that ERRI had already been in contact with several U.S. agencies in regard to the Nova
Scotia disaster and will continue to make its resources available to those agencies
involved in the the various aspects of the now on-going investigation.
Excerpted from: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services= Friday, September 4, 1998 - Vol. 4 - 247
ERRI MORNING NEWS SUMMARY
WASHINGTON (EmergencyNet News) - U.S. authorities said on Thursday that terrorism probably was not involved in the Swissair crash in Canada. American investigators joined in a search for the cause. U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said "all initial information indicates that it was an accident." Among the 229 who perished when Flight 111 plunged into the sea off the coast of Nova Scotia were 136 American passengers and one U.S. crew member from Delta Airlines. Reno's comments follow a Wednesday statement to the Associated Press by P.J. Crowley, a White House spokesman, that, "We have no indication that terrorism was involved.''
All materials above (c)Copyright, EmergencyNet News Service, 1998. All rights reserved. Redistribution without permission is prohibited by law.
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