The Audubon Commission has asked a panel of community leaders, most of whom have close ties to the commission or the Audubon Nature Institute, to review the findings of an investigation into the causes of an Aug. 7 accident that dumped 10 visitors into the shark tank at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas.

The visitors, including four children, fell into the shark-filled Gulf of Mexico exhibit when a catwalk over the 400,000-gallon tank, normally off-limits to visitors, collapsed during a behind-the-scenes tour of the aquarium at a members-only evening event.

The 10 victims were removed from the 17-foot-deep tank within minutes, scared but not seriously injured. The exhibit was reopened for public viewing two days later after the catwalk pieces were removed.

The seven-member panel will review the findings of experts on structural design and the analysis of composite materials and structures, aquarium spokeswoman Melissa Lee said. The catwalk was made of Fiberglas-reinforced plastic, she said.

One of the experts leading the investigation will be Anthony Caiazzo, technical director of Materials Science Corp., which provides testing services at the Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen, Md. Lee said Caiazzo, who has a doctorate in engineering science and mechanics, specializes in "material analysis models for advanced composite materials."

Also involved in the investigation will be Herbert Roussel Jr., an adjunct professor of civil engineering at Tulane University. With a doctorate in civil engineering, Roussel has more than 40 years of professional experience in structural analysis and design of offshore platforms and structures, Lee said.

The panel reviewing the experts' findings comprises Willard Dumas, a dentist who is president of the Audubon Commission; Nicole Hardin, a federal government compliance officer who is first vice president of the commission; Alden McDonald, president of Liberty Bank; Peter Moss, an antiques dealer who is chairman of the Audubon Nature Institute; Gregory O'Brien, chancellor of the University of New Orleans; Roger Ogden, a real estate developer who is a member and former president of the Audubon Commission; and Phyllis Taylor, a philanthropist who is also a former president of the commission.

McDonald and O'Brien have never been members of the commission or the institute's board of directors, Audubon officials said.

The nonprofit institute operates the aquarium, Audubon Park, Audubon Zoo and other facilities for the commission, a city agency.

Dumas said he hopes to receive preliminary findings from the experts in a few weeks. "We are hopeful the process can be completed expeditiously, but it is critical the analysis be thorough and accurate," he said.

Investigators quickly ruled out excess weight as the cause of the walkway's collapse, leading to speculation that it had been designed or installed incorrectly, or that the material had deteriorated in the 12 years since the aquarium opened.

Lee said that as far as she knows, no lawsuits have yet been filed in connection with the accident.