A Breakthrough in the Search

EAST MORICHES, N.Y.: After three days of fruitless searches for bodies and major parts of the TWA plane wreckage, search crews found remains of four people and major sections of the plane. The first word of the discovery came Monday afternoon from New York Governor George Pataki during a memorial service for families of the victims near the Long Island seashore. NTSB Vice Chairman Robert Francis confirmed that the bodies and a trail of wreckage were found about approximately nine miles from the shore in a three-by-four-mile area. While Francis called Monday's discovery "a major find," he would not speculate on exactly how much of the plane had been located or how many more bodies might be in the vicinity. Rough winds and equipment failures had hindered the recovery efforts over the weekend, when less than one percent of the plane had been recovered. Fewer than half of the 230 passengers aboard have been found so far. --Anita Hamilton