CREW AND PASSENGERS LEAVING AIRCRAFT; WOMAN WITH LEG IN PLASTER; PASSENGERS IN AIRPORT BUILDING; CREW MEMBERS AT PRESS CONFERENCE IN AIRPORT.




Initials ID/VS/AS/MJB



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: IN THE EARLY HOURS OF THIS MORNING (SUNDAY), 88 EXHAUSTED PASSENGERS AND 11 CREW MEMBERS OF THE TRANSWORLD AIRLINES (TWA) BOEING 707 JET WHICH WAS HIJACKED TO DAMASCUS ON FRIDAY (AUGUST 29) ARRIVED IN ATHENS ABOARD A CHARTERED ALITALIA DC-8. NOT WITH THEM WERE THE BOEING'S CAPTAIN, SIX ISRAELI PASSENGERS AND AN INJURED WOMAN AND HER FOUR CHILDREN. AT ATHENS AIRPORT, CREW AND PASSENGERS TOLD OF THEIR ORDEAL ON THE ROME-TO-ATHENS FLIGHT WHICH HAD BEEN HIJACKED BY A GIRL AND A MAN WHO CLAIMED TO BE MEMBERS OF THE POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE (PFLP).

THE SIX ISRAELIS HELD IN DAMASCUS WERE PREVENTED FROM LEAVING BY SYRIAN AUTHORITIES. THE WOMAN PASSENGER, MRS. DONALD SCHALLER FROM THE UNITED STATES WAS INJURED AS SHE SLID TO SAFETY FROM THE BOEING'S EMERGENCY CHUTE AFTER THE PILOT REPORTED A TIME BOMB ON BOARD. IT IS NOT YET STATED WHY CAPTAIN DEAN CARTER HAD REMAINED.

MEMBERS OF THE CREW HELD A PRESS CONFERENCE AT ATHENS AIRPORT AND REPORTED THAT THE TWO HIJACKERS HAD BOARDED THE AIRCRAFT IN ROME AND DESCRIBED THE GIRL AS "STRIKINGLY BEAUTIFUL". SHE HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED BY THE PFLP IN CAIRO AS MISS SHADIA ABU GHAZAALL.

THE PASSENGERS WERE NOTIFIED OF THE HIJACKING AS THEY FLEW OVER TEL AVIV, AND WERE TOLD THAT AN EMERGENCY LANDING HAD TO BE MADE AS A TIME BOMB HAD BEEN SET TO EXPLODE ABOARD THE AIRCRAFT. SHORTLY AFTER THEY LANDED AT DAMASCUS, THE BOMB DID EXPLODE, WRECKING THE BOEING.

THREE OF THE PASSENGERS - TWO OF THEM WOMEN - HAD SUFFERED BROKEN ANKLES IN THE ESCAPE FROM THE BOEING, AND HAD TO BE CARRIED OFF THE AIRCRAFT WHICH BROUGHT THEM TO ATHENS.

LATER, MEMBERS OF THE CREW REBOARDED THE DC-8 FOR A FLIGHT BACK TO ROME. THE PASSENGERS WOULD EVENTUALLY BE RE-ALLOCATED ON FLIGHTS TO THEIR DESTINATIONS IN THE NEAR AND FAR EAST.

THE INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION (IATA), WHICH IS LABOURING TO FIND A SOLUTION TO THE "GROWING EPIDEMIC" OF AIRCRAFT HIJACKINGS, WAS REPORTED AS "GRAVELY CONCERNED" BY THIS LATEST INCIDENT.