TWA Test Bolsters Bombing Theory

Preliminary testing by Boeing Co. indicates that an explosion of the center fuel tank alone would not have been powerful enough to bring down TWA Flight 800, an investigator in Smithtown, N.Y., told the Associated Press. Those early findings tend to strengthen the theory that a bomb or missile brought down the jumbo jet, and to weaken the likelihood that the plane exploded because of a mechanical malfunction. While investigators say they do not know enough to declare the explosion a criminal act, the possibility of an accident appears more remote as the evidence mounts. Investigators had determined that the center fuel tank exploded.