Singapore says the report focuses too much on mistakes the pilots allegedly made and overlooks problems at Taiwan's Chiang Kai-shek International Airport.

"They have a very heavy burden to bear with all of their compensation. They are just trying to drag us in, so we will be responsible too," Chang Kuo-cheng, director of the Civil Aeronautics Administration told The Associated Press on Saturday.

In October 2000, the Los Angeles-bound Boeing 747-400 split into three pieces and burst into flames after ramming into construction equipment on a closed runway, killing 83 people.

After a year-and-a-half inquiry, a Taiwanese-led investigation team released their findings on Friday and said that while problems with runway lights and improperly placed signs made it difficult for the pilots during takeoff, those factors did not play a key role in the crash of Flight SQ 006.

Instead, the report said the pilots could have prevented the accident if they had used airport navigation charts, requested taxi assistance during the storm or referred to heading references before takeoff.

The accident was a serious blow to Singapore Airlines, which has long been considered one of the world's safest airlines. Before the Taipei crash, the airline had never directly experienced a fatal accident in 28 years of flying.

At the same time Taiwan released its report, Singapore investigators released their own findings and said the accident was caused by "a failure of the aviation system, rather than a failure of a person or people."

The report said lights and markings leading to the airstrip were misleading, confusing and not in compliance with international standards.

Deputy secretary of Singapore's Ministry of Transport, Jaspal Singh, told a news conference on Friday that the Taiwan investigation focused too much on pilot errors and "glossed over" simple problems at the airport that could have prevented the accident. He said the Taiwanese report "does not provide a full and balanced picture."

Singapore Airlines has already offered the families of people killed in the accident 139 million Taiwan dollars (US $400,000), a sum five times the amount the company is required by international law to give in liability cases.

All claims stemming from international air travel are governed by the Warsaw Convention, which imposes a US$75,000 per passenger limit on liability. Families can seek more only if the carrier is guilty of willful misconduct, such as breached security or poor maintenance.

It is still unclear whether Taiwan will prosecute the pilots. Following the crash, the pilots were held for nearly two months before being allowed to leave Taiwan.

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