Kin mark 15 years since jet explosion

The Nation Today

July 17, 2011

NEW YORK

NEW YORK - Families and friends of some of the 230 people killed when a Paris-bound jumbo jet exploded in the sky off the Long Island coast are planning to mark the early evening moment with a quiet beach gathering today. The destruction 15 years ago of TWA Flight 800 off East Moriches just 12 minutes after takeoff from Kennedy International Airport set off a mammoth FBI investigation amid fears that a bomb or a missile had downed the plane. The National Transportation Safety Board eventually concluded that the plane was not a terrorist target, but was destroyed by a center fuel tank explosion, which was probably caused by a spark from a wiring short-circuit that ignited vapors in the tank. (AP)

CALIFORNIA

LA avoids feared ‘Carmageddon’ LOS ANGELES - Southern Californians yesterday made the ultimate sacrifice to avoid the dreaded “Carmageddon’’: leaving their cars in the garage. Unusually light traffic flowed freely through the nation’s second-largest city despite fears of epic traffic jams produced by the 53-hour shutdown of a 10-mile stretch of one of the region’s most crucial freeways. Authorities closed a section of Interstate 405 to allow partial demolition of a bridge. It is to reopen early tomorrow. (AP)

Florida

Casey Anthony released from jail ORLANDO - Casey Anthony was released from a Florida jail, 12 days after she was acquitted of murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter. Anthony got into an SUV after leaving the Orange County Jail in Orlando early this morning in the company of her attorney, Jose Baez. Anthony, 25, was found not guilty of killing her daughter, Caylee, in June 2008. But she was convicted of lying to detectives about the girl’s whereabouts. Her attorneys say that Caylee drowned in the pool. (AP)

READER COMMENTS »

View reader comments » Comment on this story »