SilkAir Boeing 737 crash probe completed- official

Associated Press. Singapore. April 30, 2000
RELATED:SilkAir crash victims lament investigation proceedings

AN Indonesian-led team has completed investigations into the crash of a Singapore passenger Boeing 737 jet in Indonesia more than two years ago, a Singapore official said today.

Victims' families have bitterly complained of a lack of information about the Dec. 19, 1997 crash of SilkAir Flight MI185, which killed all 104 people on board. SilkAir is a regional arm of flag-carrier Singapore Airlines.

Investigation leader Oetarjo Diran told Singapore officials that his team's report would be out by the end of this year, said Yeo Cheow Tong, Singapore's Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

"We have been in contact with Professor Diran, trying to get from him the latest status of the report," Yeo said in a TV report aired on Singapore's Channel News Asia.

"They have completed their investigations," Yeo said, adding that Diran aims to release the report, after "compiling" the results - before the third anniversary of the crash in December.

Singapore-bound SilkAir Flight MI185 crashed near the Indonesian town of Palembang shortly after leaving Jakarta.

The case has been dogged by speculation that Singaporean pilot Tsu Way Ming, who had a record of disciplinary problems, may have deliberately crashed the plane.

Singapore police began investigating the case last year as a possible murder-suicide.

Pretrial proceedings in lawsuits over the crash were recently assigned to a federal judge in Seattle, home of the aircraft's maker, Boeing Co. (BA).