European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 12, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 8 the stars and stripes thursday May 12, 1977 worst israeli air Force crash kills 54 Tel Aviv api an israeli air Force helicopter crashed in the occupied Westbank tuesday night and All 54 servicemen aboard were killed the military announced wednesday. It. Gen. Mordechai Gur the military chief of staff told a news conference it was the worst air Force disaster in Israel the huge Sikorsky c1i53 slowed into the Sandy ground five Miles West of the Jordan River and exploded. Gur said. An inquiry committee established soon after Llu crash quickly ruled out the possibility of foul play such As an attack by palestinian guerrillas in the West Bank or jordanian gunners just across the River Gur said. The helicopter was the last of a forma Tion that took off on Maneu vers Gur climbed a few Hundred Yards then lost Altitude. It hit an undulation on the Plain below dragged on the ground for several dozen feet and exploded Gur said. The chief of staff said no cause could be immediately singled nut for the crash. He said the us built Sikorsky was a wonderful aircraft with no record of significant malfunctions. The helicopter that crashed was relatively new. Having logged 1.150 hours and its Pilot a Veteran with 1.100 hours of experience in Sikorsky. The Pilot was cautious enough to order four men off the helicopter before Takeoff to avoid overloading. Gur said. The sol Diers aboard carried live ammunition but the general said it was too Early to say whether this caused the explosion military censors delayed publication for 18 hours until All the bereaved families were notified. This is an Iron Rule and we never change said a military spokes news of the crash was stunning for the Liny jewish slate of 3.5 million people. The israeli Cabinet met upon receiving the news and prime minister Yitzhak Rabin who handed Over his duties to de sense minister Shimon Peres following his resignation april 7, came out of semite Tir ement to chair inv session the helicopter s maximum Load is 60 men or 5 a tons. Gur said. He declined to was kidnapped by Ultra leftists Salvador foreign minister slain san Salvador. Al Salvador a foreign minister Mauricio Borgonovo. Who was kidnapped by Ultra leftists three weeks ago. Has been found murdered his family said wednes Day. The govern ment had rejected the kidnappers de mands for release of political prisoners in Exchange for Borgo novo. A family spokes Man said the Bod was found by police tuesday night near a Road about 10borgonovo Miles Southwest of san Salvador. Borgonovo had been shot three times in the head with a .22-caliber weapon the spokesman said. Borgonovo. 37. Was a member of one off Salvador s wealthiest business families and had been foreign minister for five years. The spokesman said the body was clean shaven and dressed in the clothes Borgonovo was wearing when he was kidnapped from his Home april 19 by the Faramundo Marti popular liberation front. The body was discovered by a police patrol near Santa Mccla a suburb where the Borgonovo family has the Headquarters for its various enterprises. A member of the family identified the body soon after it was found the spokes Man said. The family was informed by president Arturo Armando Molina who telephoned Borgonovo s younger brother. Carlos. 35, the spokesman s military dominated govern ment had rejected the front s demand for the release of 37 political prisoners in Exchange for Borgonovo s life. The presi Dent said two weeks ago the government had Only nine of the 37 persons in custody. The family offered a Ransom but the offer was sources were not immediately available for was the eldest of two Brothers and three Sisters the children of an italian immigrant from Monza near Milan and the salvadorian daughter of a prominent is survived by his estranged wife. Patricia Baldocchi Durnas and their two children. Mauricio. 13. And Maria Elena. 9.patricia is the daughter of Archie Baldocchi an american businessman from new York who settled in Al Salvador. The spokesman said Borgonovo s elderly parents were not immediately informed of the news. Borgonovo s father also named Mauricio is ill with cancer. These Yankees would gladly go Home american prisoners in the Santa marts Aca Titla women s prison in Mexico City stage a Mother s Day protest against Washington s alleged toot dragging in approving a prisoner Exchange treat with Mexico. The photo was taken by one of the prisoners and smuggled of the women were imprisoned on drug convictions. L pm say whether Israel had modified the air Craft after purchasing it from America a few years teams spent the night picking through the wreckage but found no survivors. Military chaplains Laboured to identify the previous worst air Force disaster according to israeli records was in no vember 1975 when a Hercules transport plane crashed into a Mountain in the Sinai desert and 20 persons were killed. The gravest tragedy to hit Israel s armed forces was in february 1968, when a Navy submarine the Dakar vanished without a Trace in the Mediterranean with 69 men aboard. The Fate of the sub remains a mystery. Controllers in Frankfurt bugged Karlsruhe. West Germany a the Federal prosecutor admitted tuesday he ordered the phones of several flight con trollers tapped during a work slowdown that caused havoc at West German air ports. A spokesman said the Wiesbaden based Federal criminal office monitored Call when Tower controllers at Frankfurt s International Airport protested working conditions in late 1973 and Early 1974. The traffic controllers maintained they were overworked impairing flight safety. The prosecutor said they wanted higher pay. Thousands of airline Passen Gers suffered delays. The controllers have since returned to Normal work procedures. Disclosure of the eavesdropping Mea sures followed the bugging scandal Over nuclear scientist Klaus Traube cleared in March of suspicions he plotted to give atomic secrets to terrorists. Courts bypassed intelligence authorities illegally by passed the courts when eavesdropping on to Aube. Interior minister Werner Salhofer exonerated the currently unemployed scientist before a special session of Parlia ment. Traube s employer had fired him when he Learned about the Well paid scientist s alleged activities last year. In the latest wire lapping affair Dis closed by a Munich based Magazine the prosecutor said the eavesdropping Wai warranted according to paragraphs 100 and 100 b of the West German penal code which permits the monitoring of phone Call if ordered by a judge during a Legal investigation. A supreme court judge ordered the investigation and approved the bugging the spokesman said. The investigation is still pending he added. The government employed air controllers Are suspected of at tempted extortion against Federal authorities he said. He admitted that contrary to the Law those concerned had not been officially in formed of the wiretapping measures. Man tries to take painting he s taken by Madrid police have freed Madrid Man who said he became so entranced with a Leonardo a Vinci painting that he suddenly stuck it under his Raincoat and tried to walk away from a private museum with it. Guards said Francisco Almagro Cano 33. Spent hours looking a Vinci s 15th Cen Tury work Al Salvador depicting the head of Christ before he took it on the Wall of the Lazaro Galdiano museum. Police freed Cano provisionally after he told them i could not resist the temptation to Lake it Home and enjoy it in
