First look at evidence recovered from Amazon cargo jet crash in Chambers County
ANAHUAC, Texas (KTRK) -- Authorities are giving us a first look at the mountain of evidence in the Amazon jet crash investigation.
Thousands of pieces are organized in a 40,000 square foot Chambers County warehouse. It's all part of the salvage and recovery process of Atlas Air Flight 3591. A one-mile radius around the crash site is still restricted as over half the plane is still in the bay.
"Anahuac, Texas right now has become the home of Flight 3591," said Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne.
Some of the parts are difficult to make out, others are recognizable, including what's left of two jet engines.
"When you think that the engines were hundreds of yards apart from each other from the impact zone. One engine close and inside the impact zone. The other one way outside the impact zone," said Hawthorne.
The NTSB is trying to figure out if all the systems were working as they're comparing the cockpit voice recorder with the flight data recorder.
Plane parts can be seen in the warehouse with writing on them as engineers look to identify the piece and then determine if it could have played a role in the accident.
"The size of the pieces gives you an idea of the power and velocity of the impact that took place when the aircraft hit the bay," said Hawthorne.
This week, the Chambers County Sheriff's Office released video captured from the County Jail surveillance cameras of some of the plane's final seconds.
"Between us and the FBI we think we've combed and requested just about every piece of video we could find," Hawthorne told Eyewitness News.
Many of the pieces recovered so far, were found on the surface or just below. Heavy excavation equipment is being used to pull the other pieces out.
The Sheriff says they'll be assisting the NTSB for as long as it takes.
