The discovery of a plot to send package bombs from Yemen to the United States has prompted investigators to take another look into the crash of a cargo plane in Dubai last month, NBC News reported Saturday.
On Sept. 3, a UPS plane crashed shortly after take off from Dubai International Airport, killing two crew members. Some reports at the time said a fire had broken out in the Boing 747-400 just after it took off.
"People are obviously taking another hard look at why that plane went down, but no hard conclusions have been reached yet," NBC News quoted a U.S. official as saying.
Security officials said the bomb packages were addressed to a Jewish community center and synagogue in Chicago.Authorities in the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates will presumably investigate whether the crash was caused by an explosive device similar to the ones found on Friday at the FedEx facility at Dubai airport and on a UPS plane at a U.K. airport.
"I think it would be very prudent to connect the dots in this incident," Max Abrahms, a leading terrorism expert in the United States,
"It seems like common sense now and clearly there are similarities between the crash and this latest incident."
Killed in the crash were Capt. Doug Lampe, 48, of Louisville, Ky., and First Officer Matthew Bell, 38, of Sanford, Fla.
The cause of the crash has not been determined.The cargo plane was en route to the UPS hub in Cologne, Germany, when it went down in an unpopulated desert area.
UAE investigators have said the crew faced radio problems and smoke in the cockpit as they struggled to maintain altitude.
Atlanta-based UPS, the world's largest shipping company, dispatched an investigation team to the scene. Boeing Co., the plane's maker, and the National Transportation Safety Board also sent teams to help with the probe.
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