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Thai Plane Blast Might be Caused by Air Conditioner Malfunction
The investigation into the explosion of Thai Airways International (THAI) aircraft took a new twist when investigators from Boeing Company said in a preliminary examination result that the incident might be caused by an accident in the air-conditioning system, the Thai News Agency reported Monday.
There are two preliminary examination results on the blast of Boeing 737-400 flight, which was bound for the northern province of Chiang Mai on March 3. The airplane exploded minutes before Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and 148 other passengers were about to board, killing one steward and injuring seven others.
The probe conducted by the Thai police found RDX, a key component in a plastic explosive C-4 bomb while the Boeing team believed problems with the air-conditioning system might have set off the blast.
Thaksin was quoted as saying that the probe into the exact cause of the plane explosion might have to take time, particularly on the part of Boeing Company.
The firm might need to check planes of the same kind worldwide if the incident was found caused by the air-conditioner error. The examination is unavoidably time-consuming, he said.
National Police Chief Pornsak Durongkavibul was quoted as confirming that a malfunction in the jet's air-conditioning system was a "new theory" investigators were now considering, but he added that one question still needed to be answered, why "so much" RDX had been found in the wreckage.
The country's image would look much better if the plane explosion was proven to be an accident, he said, adding that the police did pray for that.
Meanwhile, The Nation newspaper quoted a military source as saying that, Boeing experts believe a chemical reaction caused by a malfunction in the air-conditioning system plus oxygen could produce RDX, but the Thais doubt there would be so much.
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