Representatives from the major manufacturers involved in building the Concorde are supplying a cadre of engineers to assist French accident investigators as they try to determine what caused the crash of Air France Concorde AF 4590 on Tuesday that killed 113, including passengers, crew and people on the ground.

Company representatives here refused to speculate officially on the cause for the tragedy.

The industry team comprises representatives from EADS, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, and Snecma. A core team of 5-10 people has been dispatched, and will be extended as deemed necessary, said Rainer Hertrich, co-chairman of EADS. The group will be at the disposal of the accident investigators to provide technical knowledge.

By Robert Wall