9 Oct 2013

FBI rule out sabotage as cause of plane crash in CNMI

7:56 am on 9 October 2013

The Federal Bureau of Investigation says sabotage has so far been ruled out as the cause of the crash of a Star Marianas plane that killed three, seriously injured four others in the Northern Marianas.

FBI special agent Tom Simon says at this point, there is no indication that Sunday's crash on Tinian was a result of a deliberate act.

He says the FBI's role right now, along with the U.S. Coast Guard and CNMI authorities, is to preserve the evidence at the impact scene while they await the arrival of crash investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Meanwhile, all four survivors of the crash were still at the hospital as of Monday with only the 3 year-old survivor, a girl, upgraded to fair condition.

The three adult survivors, two females and one male, remain in critical but stable condition at hospital.

All four survivors are Chinese tourists.

Of the three who died, two were Chinese tourists, a man and a woman. The third fatality was the pilot.