Metal Fatigue, Fuse Pins Suspect in El Al Crash As Crew is Buried

The three crew members who died in the Oct. 4 crash of the El Al cargo jet in Amsterdam were buried side by side in a state funeral here Sunday.

Capt. Yitzhak Fuchs, pilot of the ill-fated aircraft, 1st Officer Arnon Ohad and flight engineer Gedalyah Sofer were laid to rest at the Kiryat Shaul cemetery in Tel Aviv in the presence of a large number of mourners, including members of the Israeli air force, in which all three had served.

Anat Levy Salomon, the plane’s sole passenger, was buried Friday. The wife of an El Al security officer in Amsterdam, she had been going home for vacation.

Israeli Transport Minister Yisrael Kessar and El Al President Rafi Harlev delivered brief eulogies at the funeral, where mourners also included government representatives and El Al officials and staff.

Preliminary findings by investigators looking into the crash point to metal fatigue and poorly designed engine fuse pins as probably responsible for the disaster, which killed all on board and scores of people on the ground.

Jumbo jets designed for cargo use carry heavier loads than passenger-configured jumbo jets.

The preliminary findings, announced over the weekend by the Dutch commission investigating the crash, said the pilot appears to have acted correctly, as the pins holding the inner right-hand engine, No. 3, gave way, loosening the engine and causing it to hit and tear away the outboard right-hand engine.

The plane is believed to have caught fire after the two engines broke away.

Both engines were recovered by divers from the waters of the Zuider Zee. They are believed to have dropped off about 14 minutes after the plane took off from Schiphol Airport.

Meanwhile, Holland has announced it will grant legal residency to illegal immigrants who survived the crash into their apartment buildings or whose next of kin were killed in the disaster. The offer excludes those with a criminal record.