WASHINGTON, March 21: The co-pilot of a 1999 EgyptAir Flight crashed the plane off the US Atlantic coast after repeatedly stating “I rely on God,” a US government report said Thursday.

The report by the National Transportation Safety Board said EgyptAir Flight 1990 crash “as a result of the relief first officer’s flight control inputs.” But it said the reason for his action “was not determined.”

The NTSB stopped short of endorsing the theory that the co-pilot, Gamil El-Batouty, deliberately crashed the Boeing 767 after taking off from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, and left open the possibility that he tried to evade some type of danger.

“The Safety Board considered possible reasons for the relief first officer’s actions; however, the Board did not reach a conclusion regarding the intent of or motivation for his actions,” the report concluded.

But it said “the investigation did not reveal any evidence” of mechanical failure that led to the disaster.

It said that “the probable cause of the EgyptAir flight 990 accident is the airplane’s departure from normal cruise flight and subsequent impact with the Atlantic Ocean as a result of the relief first officer’s flight control inputs. The reason for the relief first officer’s actions was not determined.”

Egyptian officials had vigorously disputed suggestions that the October 1999 crash was an intentional act of the co-pilot, and had pledged to file an objection to such a conclusion.

“The facts do not support the initial, and widely reported, theory that the (relief) first officer deliberately dove the plane toward the ocean,” EgyptAir had contended, according to the NTSB report.

All 217 people on board died as a result of the crash of the Cairo-bound jet some 100 kilometres south of Nantucket Island.

At the time of the crash, the Cairo-bound plane was controlled by co-pilot , who according to on-board recording devices, uttered something resembling a prayer before sending the airliner toward the ocean.

That led to speculation that Batouty could have been on a suicide mission and crashed the plane intentionally.—AFP