Fox Nation dives into the mystery of TWA Flight 800
'Fire Over the Atlantic' sheds new light on the mystery of the 1996 crash; Kevin Gallagher, a former NYPD diver who helped with the recovery effort, weighs in.
On the night of July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800, a 25-year-old Boeing 747-100 bound for Paris from New York, erupted into an airborne fireball and crashed into the ocean over Moriches Inlet on the South Shore of Long Island.
All 230 passengers and crew members aboard were killed instantly in the crash which investigators ruled was likely caused by a short circuit igniting flammable vapors in the central fuel tank.
But public fascination with the crash -- and speculation about the cause -- has continued ever since that night. Some suggested a mechanical failure brought the plane down, while others were certain a bomb or military missile doomed the flight.
The latest series from Fox Nation, "Fire Over the Atlantic: The Mystery of TWA Flight 800" attempts to answer some of the many unresolved questions surrounding the explosion that occurred only 12 minutes after takeoff.
In the first episode "Truth, Tales & Terrorism," Retired NYPD detective Kevin Gallagher details the aftermath of the crash, giving a first-person account of his experience as a diver working on the recovery effort.
"The night of the crash ... because of the flames, divers couldn’t get into the water and it was just too dark and too dangerous," Gallagher recalled Tuesday on "Fox & Friends."
FLASHBACK: MEMORIAL MARKS 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF TWA FLIGHT 800 CRASH
"So, the team assembled at our base in Brooklyn that night. We got all our gear together and we headed out ... early the next morning. Our first couple days, I think like the first four days, were spent doing the side-scan sonar and picking debris up off the surface."
Gallagher recalled there "were dozens and dozens of Navy divers, state police," and fire department members present, "not just diving. It was a lot of people doing work on the surface after we brought things up. It was a huge investigation between the FBI and NTSB. We were just a small part."
The first two episodes of "The Mystery of TWA Flight 800" are now available to Fox Nation subscribers. To watch "Truth, Tales & Terrorism," and "Crime Scene or Floating Puzzle," visit Fox Nation and join today.
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