at Trevose, Pennsylvania, at 8:31:12 pm. Thirty-eight seconds later, the captain of an Eastwind Airlines Boeing 737 reported to Boston ARTCC that he "just saw an explosion out here", adding, "we just saw an explosion up ahead of us here ... about or something like that, it just went down into the water." Subsequently, many air traffic control facilities in the New York/Long Island area received reports of an explosion from other pilots operating in the area. Many witnesses in the vicinity of the crash stated that they saw or heard explosions, accompanied by a large fireball or fireballs over the ocean, and observed debris, some of which was burning while falling into the water. Various civilian, military, and police vessels reached the crash site and searched for survivors within minutes of the initial water impact, but found none, making TWA 800 the second-deadliest aircraft accident in United States history at that time. Passengers and crew On board TWA 800 were 230 people, including 18 crew and 20 off-duty employees, most of whom were crew meant to cover the Paris-Rome leg of the flight. Seventeen of the 18 crew members and 152 of the passengers were Americans; the remaining crew member was Italian, while the remaining passengers were of various other nationalities. Notable passengers included: Michel Breistroff, French ice hockey player Marcel Dadi, French guitarist Lawrence Harris, American fashion photographer David Hogan, American composer Jed Johnson, Andy Warhol's partner of twelve years, interior designer, and director Pam Lychner, American crime victims' rights advocate and former TWA flight attendant Rico Puhlmann, German fashion photographer Courtney Elizabeth Johns, Sister of Geoff Johns and was the inspiration for Courtney Whitemore Ana Marie Shorter, Wayne Shorter's second wife In addition, 16 students and five adult chaperones from the French Club of the Montoursville Area High School in Pennsylvania were on board. Initial investigation The NTSB was notified about 8:50 pm the day of the accident; a full "go team" was assembled in Washington, DC, and arrived on scene early the next morning. Meanwhile, initial witness descriptions led many to believe the cause of the crash was a bomb or surface-to-air missile attack. Since the NTSB does not investigate criminal activity, the United States Attorney General is empowered to declare an investigation to be linked to a criminal act, and require the NTSB to relinquish control of the investigation to the FBI. In the case