No hint of sabotage

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32945, 17 June 1972, Page 15

No hint of sabotage

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) TOKYO, June 16. The Japanese police say that their investigations so far have found no hint of sabotage in the crash of a Japan Airlines DCB at Jaitpur, near New Delhi, on Wednesday. As a matter of course the background of all the Japanese passengers on board the jet had been investigated and there was no indication that any of them was involved with an extremist organisation. Police have been maintaining a close watch on known extremists in Japan since the fatal shooting by three Japanese gunmen at Tel Aviv last month. Japan airlines said the crash—in which 84 of the 89 persons on board died—remained a mystery. But it is thought to nave been accidental. An 80-strong team of Japanese officials, led by the airline’s vice-president has arrived in Jaitpur to investigate the crash. The death toll rose to 87 yesterday with the discovery that three farm workers had been killed when the plane crashed. The five survivors, including three children, are reported to be making progress in hospital. The New Zealand girl survivor, Eva Gabrielle Sundblad, aged 11, has a broken wrist and the other girls, Lucy Webber, aged four, and her sister Sophie Webber, aged two, are comfortable. The two adult survivors were hurt much more seriously. The cabled photograph shows Indian police searching the debris of the crashed plane.