[COEXERJ145]

Valujet was bad. A plane impacting in a nose down attitude at over 500 miles per hour doesn't leave a lot of intact pieces. The divers that had to recover the body parts and aircraft remains worked in absolutely hellish conditions. Not only was it hot & humid, dirty, and the smell was nauseating, but alligators were a constant threat. Armed guards had to stand by all around the crash site with high powered rifles just to keep the gators away.

[operation clinton cleanup]

As I recall, the water was only 4 feet deep... almost everything was buried in the muck.... I cant imagine a worse situation for a crash recovery operation.