Memorial Set For 20th Anniversary Of TWA Flight 800 Crash

SHIRLEY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A memorial service will be held Sunday night to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the TWA Flight 800 plane crash.

The Boeing 747 exploded off Long Island 12 minutes after the Paris-bound flight took off from Kennedy Airport on July 17, 1996. All 230 passengers and crew were killed.

John Seaman, the head of a victims' family group, said the service will be held at Smith Point County Park, which is near the crash site. It will honor those who aided in the recovery efforts, and the people who built and care for a memorial at Smith Point.

Kelsey Rogers, who lost her sister, will perform "Amazing Grace.'' Kimberly Marie was a high school student from Montoursville, Pennsylvania. Sixteen students and five chaperones from the school's French Club perished.

Two decades after the tragedy, there are still many who refuse to accept the official conclusion that it was not an act of terrorism, WCBS 880's Mike Xirinachs reported.

"I don't believe that," one man at the memorial site said. "I think the government was trying to make it quiet and go away."

"It seems hard to believe," another man said.

"I feel like maybe it was some kind of target," a woman said.

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded an electrical spark likely caused the center fuel tank to explode.

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