Divers At Valujet Crash Site Discover Mysterious Large Hole Half Of Plane Still Is Missing; Human Remains Being Retrieved

Divers recovering wreckage from ValuJet Flight 592 discovered a large hole Monday at the southern tip of the murky crater, raising the possibility that much more of the jet’s wreckage may lie below.

Joe Farrell, president of Resolve Towing and Salvage, would not speculate on what divers expect to find when they enter the hole, but “something significant cracked the rock,” he said.

The hole, 20 feet by 30 feet in diameter, is located at the edge of the crater ripped open by the jet’s nose dive into the Everglades. The crater measures about 175 feet long and 60 feet wide.

Half the airplane still is missing, including the cockpit. Nothing from that part of the plane has been recovered, Farrell said.

“Our divers actually can put their arms down through the edges of that opening,” he said. “We may very well find something of great interest within the southern tip of the crater.”

Farrell said divers hope to enter the newly discovered hole today.

The DC-9 was traveling south when it crashed and disappeared into the Everglades. All 110 people aboard died in the May 11 crash.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board did not immediately return a phone call Monday evening.

On Monday, divers also collected a “substantial amount of human remains,” including a skull, Farrell said.

Earlier in the day, a trucker who worked for Farrell’s company transporting the wreckage was charged with stealing parts of the aircraft, including a circuit-breaker panel that could yield clues to the crash.

Michael E. Gadsden, 35, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said he took the parts as souvenirs, according to the FBI. He was jailed on $50,000 bail.

FBI agents said they found two aircraft pieces at his home in Fort Lauderdale.