European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 10, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 24 the stars and stripes thursday october 10,1985 rites held for puerto Rico storm victims Ponce puerto Rico a gov. Rafael Hernandez Colon joined hundreds of mourners in the cily coliseum wednesday for a mass funeral for Many of the 68 known victims of his week s floods and mudslides. An official said As Many As 500 More arc feared dead. Sobbing and wailing relatives and friends filed past the caskets of 23 of the 25 bodies pulled from the mud and debris of the nearby Mam yes Shantytown where 400 Homes were destroyed monday morning by a landslide triggered by a tropical deluge. Colon said this is the worst tragedy Ever to hit our Island in its history. It fills me with pain As governor and As a Ponce native. Rescue teams working around the clock reported find ing three More bodies under the Mam yes mud tuesday night bringing the unofficial count there to 28. Ponce s Deputy mayor Angel Emetrio Atienza Esti mated As Many As 500 bodies Are still buried in Mam yes. But Luis Armstrong a Deputy District attorney in charge of a temporary morgue at the site said interviews with relatives and neighbors led him to believe up to 100 Are still missing. Col. Moreno said four . Army corps of engineers demolition experts with sounding devices and six dogs trained to locate corpses were being i directly to Ponce on wednesday from Andrews fab in Maryland to help locate the bodies. Police probing the Waters under a collapsed Bridge at Santa Isabela about 20 Miles cast of Ponce reported six automobiles and 19 bodies have been pulled from the swollen paso Sacco. Edgardo Delgado the Southern Region s District attorney who supervises identification efforts said 64 bodies had been received at the morgue at the medical Center in Ponce including victims from Mam eyes Santa Isabela and other flooded areas on the South coast. Delgado said Rescue workers have spotted at least four More bodies under the mud and debris in various locations bringing the known death toll to 68. It was not Clear whether All the bodies recovered from Mam eyes and Santa Isabela were taken to the morgue. On tuesday Colon declared three Days of mourning and announced a multimillion Dollar emergency Aid plan. The governor also said he had talked with White House officials about obtaining technical help and Federal Aid for this . Commonwealth of 3.2 million people. Jose Dapena Thompson mayor of this Caribbean City of 190,000 people urged president Reagan to declare Ponce a Federal disaster area. He estimated damages in the Southern Region of the Island will total More than $100 he estimated that 500 families lived in Mam yes on municipal property that has been occupied by squatters for 75 years. Col. Luis Manuel Carrillo said about 300 National guardsmen called out when the governor declared a state of emergency monday were stopping unauthorized people who tried to cart away items salvaged from the Muddy debris. Dapena Thompson directed civil defense workers to escort residents to their Homes to collect personal belong Ings. The puerto rican legislature has authorized release of $10 million in contingency funds for emergency Relief and Hernandez Colon said 40 municipalities were disaster areas. He said the top priority will be finding new housing for at least 2,000 homeless people. Colon who said at least three of his close friends drowned in the floods said he also would ask the mexican government still digging out from the deadly earthquakes two weeks ago for technical advice. The National weather service said from sunday evening to monday morning 10 to 15 inches of rain fell As a tropical front moved across the Island. The front subsequently developed into tropical storm Isabel. Lauro from Page 1 they were armed. Marine historians said tuesday that the hijacking was Only the latest in a Long line of crises and mishaps to befall the Achille Lauro. It s an extremely interesting ship from various standpoints Frank o. Braynard a Long Island n.y., Marine historian said of the Achille Lauro. Braynard who was general manager of the of sail program in the 1976 Bicentennial Drew from a five volume account of shipping in the North Atlantic and other histories to recount that the keel of the Achille Lauro then named the Willem Ruys was Laid at a shipyard in Flushing the Netherlands in 1939. But the dutch did t want the ship taken by the nazis and used every pretext to take pieces out of the Hull and otherwise impede the completion Braynard said. Consequently the germans never did get use of the ship which was launched in 1947. In 1953, according to a dutch Book the Willem Ruys and a sister ship then named the Kranjc collided while saluting each other in the red sea. The bows were Crum pled but there were no injuries. Braynard said that in 1965 the repaired ships were purchased by Achille Lauro Italy s largest shipowner and a flamboyant rightist mayor of Naples in the 1950s. Lauro who was said to have a Fortune of More than Sion million died in 1982. In the 1960s, Lauro ordered two new vessels from a Palermo shipyard but he later decided to buy the Willem Ruys and Oranje which were renamed the Achille Lauro and Angelina Lauro. The two ships then mysteriously burned and Sank at pal Ermo and the shipyard won the contract to rebuild them. In 1972, according to italian news accounts the Achille Lauro caught fire Dur ing a Stop in Genoa. There were no injuries. Three years later in the Dardanelles she struck a Small lebanese merchant vessel. None of the cruise ship s 550 passengers were injured but four Crew members from the lebanese vessel were knocked Over Board and presumed drowned. In 1976, italian news accounts say the italian financial police sequestered the Achille Lauro at Genoa for a gambling investigation involving the ship s 29 Slot machines. On March 30,1979, the Angelina Lauro then part of the Costa line caught fire at dockside in St. Thomas in the United states Virgin islands. No passengers were injured but the ship was too badly damaged to be rebuilt. While being towed to South Korea for scrap she Sank. In 1981, the Achille Lauro caught fire near the Canary islands and two Passen Gers were killed according to Ansa the italian news Agency. The next year the shipping company went bankrupt and the vessel was seized by creditors. She was released in 1983, and last year her new owner the italian govern ment leased her to Chandrie until 1987. 3 sausage makers under investigation we Bruecken Germany a authorities Are invalidating three German sausage makers suspected of using formaldehyde As a meat preservative the Wei Bruecken prosecutor s office said. Prosecutor Wilhelm saltier said that an Anonymous caller tipped off authorities that formaldehyde which has been outlawed in Germany for use in food products As a pos sible cancer causing agent was allegedly being added to some sausages. Funds from Page 1 fiscal 1991. The measure was proposed by Sens. Phil Gramm a Texas Warren Rud Man r-n.h., and Ernest Hollings . The plan would be attached to a Bill Rais ing the National debt to s2.078 trillion enough to last through the fiscal year. Two test votes on sunday indicated the Amend ment would pass. That vote at the end of a six Day dead lock would Clear the Way for action on a Short term hike in the National debt enough to carry the government through another week of its deficit spending. The interim hike which must also be approved by the House would allow Congress to leave for its Columbus Day recess this weekend without threat of the government defaulting on its obligations. The Reagan administration supports the deficit reduction amendment and has been keeping up pressure for Quick passage of the amendment and the debt increase with daily warnings of dire financial problems. The government has reached its current Legal limit of si.824 trillion in debt and has used up its Cas reserves officials said. At the White House presidential spokes Man Larry Speakes who said earlier this week that the administration did not regard a Stopgap Bill As necessary said wednes Day a Short Extension and a very Short one May be necessary if the impasse is no resolved soon. Deputy Treasury Richard g. Darman in a letter to Dole on tuesday said As of this morning we project an ending balance for october 8 of Zero and absent reme dial action a negative ending balance for october 9." when the balance goes below Zero the Treasury will begin notifying Banks not to Honor government checks Darman said. Hijackers from Page 1 earlier reports indicated there were As Many As a dozen hijackers and the Palestine liberation organization said there were six. The Blue and while Achille Lauro was anchored off port said. It was seized Mon Day night after it left Alexandria Egypt. The hijackers reportedly were heavily armed and had demanded that Israel re lease so palestinian prisoners. A Plo official in Tunis who said he was authorized to speak for the organization but who declined to be identified did not say which organization the hijackers belonged to but said the Plo had no connection whatsoever with the piracy. The Plo news Agency Wafa in a telex monitored in London said a delegation of Plo officials Hud boarded the ship and started talks with the hijackers. The italian foreign ministry said earlier wednesday there could be As Many As 511 people on the liner 180 passengers and 331 Crew members. On tuesday the ship Ping company said 413 people were aboard. The Plo has condemned the hijacking. An egyptian official wednesday said his country was certain that Plo chairman Yasser Arafat had nothing to do with it. Earlier the hijackers denied killing any hostages and demanded to talk to Western ambassadors port sources said. An unconfirmed report reaching the israeli government said an elderly jewish couple from the United states was killed a government official said wednesday. The official speaking on a guarantee of anonymity said the names of the couple were made available to Israel but he declined to release them. He said there was no confirmation of the report from a second source. Hundreds of passengers were Olf the ves Sel for a one Day Lour of Cairo and the pyramids when the hijacking occurred. They were to have a boarded in port said. An italian foreign ministry official said italian authorities had been told by the Plo in Tunisia that men using false South american passports boarded the vessel in the Northern port of Genoa where the ship began its Mediterranean cruise with 735 passengers last thursday. The pirates said they were from the pal Estine liberation front one of eight guerrilla groups that comprise the Plo. Temperatures october 1 l h 34 67 Albany s3 73 Albuquerque 39 50 Anchorage so 67 of Lanka 52 6? Atlantic Civ 40 69 Baltimore 17 25 Billing 54 77 Bermi Modem 29 45 solve 45 61 Boston 47 69 Buffalo 37 64 Burlington 61 77 Charleston so. 43 78 Charles Ion . 53 45 Chic Syo 52 74 Cincinnati 49 70 Cleveland 6fl 87 Del has i. Worm 31 36 Denver 5 62 Dei Molnes 54 7q Detroit 37 51 Fairbanks 33 36 Fargo 33 67 Hartford 77 6? Honolulu 68 80 50 73 Indianapolis 56 61 Jack Wille is 66 to rival City 61 74 la a that s7 by la lilo Ruck l h a 69 Loi Angelet a 75 Lou Livim 55 10 me moult 7i u Miami be do 41 so 54 76 Nau Willu i n new Orleene it n new York As 74 Norcom �7 76 Oklahoma ally 45 51 Omaha 66 17 Orlando 43 72 Philadelphia 63 to Phoenix 43 74 poll Elburon 36 62 Portland Maine 41 56 Portland Ore. 39 67 Providence 44 75 atals 34 46 Reno a 77 is. Lull 65 17 St. Peler Truro 39 40 Salt Lake City 64 70 sen Diego 56 65 san fre Clico 78 87 san Juan 40 55 Seattle 40 70 Syracuse 64 71 Tucux 48 n Wathington 54 67 we chill 1 european weather Force fill Tor thur Jav Cloudy with rain Howert in the Mxon partly to Cloudy in Central Areat and fair to partly Cloudy in the Louth. High temperature 56-60. Lows 45-50. Us Nett thursday 5.43, Sunram Friday 6 47. Outlook for Friday mostly Cloudy in the North partly Cloudy n Central and tout Nern veal. It ten temperature in the Tow 6
