Pilot Suicide Ruled Out in 1997 SilkAir Crash
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SINGAPORE — Investigators on Thursday ruled out pilot suicide in the 1997 crash of a SilkAir jet in Indonesia but said they were unsure of the disaster’s cause.
Singaporean police and Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee issued separate statements saying Singaporean pilot Tsu Way Ming showed no suicidal tendencies.
The nearly new Boeing 737-300 crashed in Sumatra on Dec. 19, 1997, killing all 104 people aboard. The Singapore-bound flight plunged from 35,000 feet shortly after leaving Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.
Investigators were unable to determine the cause “due to the highly fragmented wreckage and the nearly total lack of useful data, information and evidence,” the safety committee said. Data and voice recorders had been disabled moments before the crash.
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