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The crash of TWA flight 800 remains a painful tragedy, with relatives of the victims expected to meet on Saturday to mark 25 years since the disaster.
The Boeing 747 took off from Kennedy Airport on July 17, 1996, bound for Paris with 230 people on board – but 12 minutes later there was a mid-flight explosion. The plane crashed in the waters off Long Island.
All passengers and crew died, making the crash the third deadliest aircraft crash in U.S. history.
The victims came from 14 different countries and included 16 students from a high school in Pennsylvania and their escorts.
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Initially, many feared that the airliner had been attacked by terrorists. But investigators later concluded that a fuel tank had exploded, possibly ignited by an electrical failure, according to CBS New York.
A quarter of a century later, relatives of the victims are expected to congregate in Smith Point County Park, where the TWA Flight 800 International Memorial is located.
The memorial regularly draws gloomy visitors, who often leave flowers or candles or throw balloons and lanterns into the sky.
The plane wreckage remains in custody in northern Virginia, where the National Transportation Safety Board conducted its investigation. Since 2003, first responders and security investigators have used the recovered remains for training purposes, the Washington Post reported.
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An agreement between the agency and the families of the victims specified that the wreckage was to be used only for training purposes.
However, the end of the hangar lease prompted the NTSB to downgrade the content this month, with plans to destroy the wreckage by the end of the year.
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“I have mixed feelings,” said Larry Gustin, son of one of the victims. “Mainly it’s the 25th year. We’re losing something that’s always been there.”
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