Communiqués

Transportation Safety Board of Canada

September 17, 1998

(Halifax, NS) - The Transportation Safety Board of Canada today provided details on the challenging state of the primary wreckage site and an update on the ongoing investigation of Swissair Flight 111.

According to Vic Gerden, Investigator in Charge for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, divers working at 180 feet below the surface of the Atlantic, confirm that there are few large pieces of the MD-11 that crashed on the night of September 2 off Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia. "The wreckage comprises a field of approximately 70 metres by 30 metres littered with shattered pieces of the aircraft," said Gerden.

The head of the investigation and recovery team praised the divers and surface recovery workers from the Canadian Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The team continues to place the recovery of human remains as the top priority of the operation. In addition, divers have been instructed to identify and recover key components from the cockpit and avionics bay as well as other areas of the aircraft that have "non-volatile memory" that may yield information important to the investigation. Gerden noted "we have areas of interest and priorities for the recovery and examination teams in Halifax and Ottawa." However, he stressed that no conclusions have been arrived at to this time. "We are in pursuit of facts."

Gerden pointed out that the investigation will not be finished soon. "Let me be clear. My team wants to find the answers as soon as possible. We want to find them for the families. We want to find them for safety reasons. We want to find them as professionals. However, let me be just as clear that 'as soon as possible' will not be tomorrow or next week. It may not be even next month. It is a long and painstaking process. It is important that it be done right.

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