European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 9, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Inside stripes d Hamadi trial adjourns until next week Page 2 q budget cuts could Hurt Dod fraud inspection efforts Page 4 d tigers win Battle of division leaders sports Page 21 d conference committee oks $299 billion Dod budget Back Page the stars and stripes authorized unofficial publication for the . Armed forces vol. 47, no. 82 saturday july 9, 1988 Good morning 2s doily and sunday q 8693 a 149 missing in North sea a helicopter hovers Over the burning Oil Rig in the North sea thursday where As Many As 166 people May have been killed. A photo Aberdeen Scotland a rescuers on thursday night found two More survivors of an explosion and towering fire that consumed the Piper Alpha plat form and killed up to 166 people in the world s worst Oil Rig disaster. The search resumed at Daylight Fri Day. But authorities said there was Little Hope of finding anyone else alive in the North sea s frigid Waters. The Piper Alpha Oil Rig 120 Miles of Scotland is owned by Occidental Petro  joint statement issued Early Friday by Occidental Petroleum spokesman David Mathys in London and police in Aberdeen said in All 230 personnel were involved in the incident. This was made up of 227on Occidental facilities and three in a Small Rescue boat. Seventeen bodies have been recovered. Total survivors to Date Are 64, and 149 Are unaccounted  whether rescuers had Given up Hope of finding More survivors British Energy department minister Peter mor Rison said to be honest yes. At this stage there is very Little Hope  the Rig owners said the probable Caus of the explosion was a Gas leak which a survivor said was screaming like Banshee seconds before the blast wednesday  told of having to choose be tween trying to survive the flames i Hopes Aid would come and plunging 150 feet into a Blanket of burning Oil that see Rig on Back Page earlier incident increased fears Airbus was f-14 Washington not the Day before the Cruiser Vincennes shot Down an iranian Airbus two iranian f-14 fighter planes came As close a seven Miles to another . Ship prompting it to go on combat Alert and to fire a warning flare senior administration officials said. Administration officials said the previously undisclosed incident helps explain Why the Captain of the Vincennes thought he might be facing a attack from an f-14 on sunday when he shot Down a civilian jetliner. The officials said the episode last saturday heightened concern about Iran s f-14 operations in the Gulf. One government official also said the f-14sinvolved in this incident were emitting the same identification signals As those the Vincennes received As it monitored the civilian Airbus. The iranian planes were escorting an iranian Oil Tanker and after communication with the Cruiser Halsey the planes left without displaying hostile intent. But the flight of the iranian f-14s was also see f-148 on Back Page Pentagon admits Airliner was in commercial route Washington a the defense department has acknowledged that an iranian Airliner shot Down by the Cruiser Vincennes was within a corridor for commercial airliners but it said that alone did not guarantee the plane s safety. An Airway is not a safety zone said chief Penta gon spokesman Dan Howard. It does t mean that everything inside there is a Safe aircraft that it s Al commercial traffic. All this Means is that within that zone within that area the air traffic control authorities have agreed to track aircraft " the fact that the Airliner was in a civilian air Corri Dor did not Rule out the possibility in the mind of the skipper of the Vincennes capt. Will c. Rogers Iii that he faced an attacking f-14 fighter Howard added. He said Iran must share some responsibility for the deaths of the plane s 290 passengers aim Crew because the Airbus took off from a military civilian Airport a Bandar Abbas during an Exchange of fire Between the Vincennes and iranian gunboats. The iranians Are the ones who Bear the responsibility for ensuring that if they Are the ones who provoke the hostilities they Are the ones who began the shoot ing in this incident that they ensure the safety of their civilian aircraft by not sending them into harm s Way Howard said. Meanwhile the White House appeared to be edging toward a decision to propose paying compensation for the destruction of the plane and the loss or lives. I suspect that doing what we think is right will Bethe deciding Factor said presidential spokesman mar Lin Fitzwater. He said humane and moral considerations will be taken into account. At the Pentagon Howard discounted speculation on Capitol Hill that an iranian warplane might have been flying behind the commercial flight in an attempt Touse it As a cover to sneak up behind the Vincennes. Howard repeated that . Warships had broadcast12 warnings to the iranian aircraft. And he released the transcript of an iranian f-14responding to a similar warning the Day before the Airbus went Down. The f-14 identified itself to the Cruiser Halsey and went away Howard said. A Sec Ond f-14 was flying with that Jet but Only the on conversed with the Halsey. The second Jet also moved  sunday the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff adm. William j. Crowe told reporters that on reason capt. Rogers believed the iranian aircraft was a military Jet was because it was outside the air corridor. Both Crowe and Howard have stressed that the most see Airliner on Back Page Brownsville Texas Accident claims 8 lives Page 3