European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 18, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Inside so types o air National guard criticized for absenteeism Page 5 d Steffi Graf claims title no. 1 Tennis ranking Page 21 d harmonic converters Welcome the Dawn Page 28 the  authorized unofficial publication fq1 vol. 46. No 122 tuesday. August in 1987 of Lopes Ahmed Foi ii 0 8693 a 147 killed in fiery crash during Takeoff in Detroit Romulus Mith. A a Northwest airlines jetliner with ia1 people aboard crashed sunday night in a fireball on Takeoff from Detroit metropolitan air port apparently a swing All aboard authorises said. Wayne county executive de Mcnamara said at a news conference sunday night that there appeared to a no survivors on the plane. Al least five people on the ground were injured. There s a great Deal of bedlam Mcnamara said. Burning Metal. Blankets covering what appear to be the remains. In just total destruction. It just looks like a larg bomb  a temporary morgue was set up at the Airport Mcnamara said. Fri agents were sent o the scene because of a report that there might have been an explosion before the crash said John Anthony a spokesman for the fb1 in Detroit. The agents he said would Check any indication thai a bomb might have been on the jul. An ambulance attendant said bodies and pieces of the plane were strewn Over a half mile area from the largest piece of wreckage. The Airport shut Down immediately after the crash which occurred about 8 45 p.m., bul reopened 30 minutes later. Airport controllers witnessed the crash according to Faa lower chief Jerry Linton who gave no further details. Taped conversations Between controllers and the flight 255 Crew have not been reviewed he said. A 4-year-old girl with serious bums was rushed to Annapolis Hospital in Wayne then was airlifted to the University of Michigan medical Center in Ann Arbor said Annapolis spokesman Bill Sherman. We have two people being treated Here from the crash neither of whom is believed to have been on the  said Catherine cure Ion spokeswoman for the University of Michigan medical Center both Are believed to have been on the ground. One is a female child no age known and the other is an adult Don t know the sex Cureton said. The Wing of the plane Mcnamara said clipped a rental car building then Slid underneath an 1-94 overpass on Middle balt Road which adjoins the Airport on the cast 1 94. A six Lane cast West freeway runs immediately North of the Airport and connects Detroit and Chicago to was unclear Mcnamara said whether the plane had broken apart before sliding under the overpass. The plane May have been on tire before it crashed witnesses said. When it hit the ground it just crumpled like a piece continued on Page 28 helicopters arrive off Bahrain to Start removing mines Manama Bahrain not the american amphibious assault ship Guadalcanal carrying eight helicopters Bear ing sophisticated mine sweeping gear arrived Here sunday night and anchored off the Headquarters of the United Stales Middle East task Force. The arrival of the helicopters with their equipment for a High technology Mission coincided with the emergence of a Low technology Challenge to the Effort to protect Gull shipping the Irani ans might be tossing mines from Small wooden boats into Waters just cleared. Some shipping and naval sources in the area speculated that Iran had adopted a strategy of planting mines from the count Luis dhow Small trading and fishing Craft that ply the Gulf. If so that would make it difficult if not impossible for the . Navy to Gua Rantee the safety of the kuwaiti tankers now flying the american Flag or indeed of ils own ships which Are More vulnerable than tankers to mines. An iranian asserted on sunday thai the country was manufacturing its own mines. According to the official iranian news Agency the speaker of parliament Hoja Tol Isiam Ali Akbar a Sfanjani said we have a mine producing factory that could produce mines like  in Fui Airah shipping agents reached by Ielepnof-7 said on sunday that there were reports of new sightings of mines anchored nol floating in an area earlier believed Safe. The area is in the Gulf of Oman where 60 to 100 ships often assemble at any one time wailing for the trip up the Gulf or taking on supplies or cargo. The agents sirs cd the fact that the newly discovered mines were moored indicating that they had been targeted for the area rather than Jusi Drifting in with the currents. A Supply ship lending tankers Offu Jamirah hit a mine on saturday and Sank. That was less than 14 hours after the United Arab emirates said the Waters were Clear. The same area was swept for mines after the american operated Lanker Tex Aco Caribbean loaded with iranian Oil and flying a panamanian nag was dam aged by a mine on tuesday. No vessels were venturing Forth in the darkness at of Zyairah sunday night. Coast guardsmen of the United Arab emirates began stopping and searching fishing Boais and other Small Craft. The dhows Are usually made of leak. Their planks Are lightly lashed together and they have a distinctive High Stern and raked mails. The populations of the teeming ports along the Western Gulf coast include Many shiites and ethnic iranians some with loyalty to Ayatollah Ruhollah Kho Meini s fundamentalist revolution. It would be an easy matter experts said for Small boats to rendezvous in the Gulf with Supply ships which could be Light speedboats or even fishing vessels 10 Transfer explosives. The mines could then be simply put Over the Side. France and Britain Are sending mine sweepers to the Region. The soviet Union also has mine sweepers and warships there. A United Arab emirates coast Gunny Esel tracks mine in the Gulf of Oman