Reporter saw incident

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33046, 13 October 1972, Page 13

Reporter saw incident

(By MICHAEL MACLE AR, of Canadas independent television network, CTV, through N.Z.P.A.) HANOI, October 11. I witnessed the attack which destroyed the French diplomatic residence, seriously injuring the delegation head, Mr Pierre Susini, and killing a French woman diplomat and five of Mr Susini’s Vietnamese staff.

We were filming one mile away when at least three jets swooped repeatedly over the heart of the capital today. It was lunch hour. I counted at least a dozen sorties by jets and watched as one, defying heavy anti-aircraft fire,

dived very low, dropping two bombs. There was no possibility of pilot error. They were attacking very low over the centre of the capital. The area hit is the diplomatic quarter and there are no Vietnamese ministries or factories anywhere near. I witnessed and filmed dead taken from rubble of the French residence, which was shorn in half. The French Consul, Mr Christian Calvy, told me that the attack came without warning. He called it too horrible for words.

Tonight I saw the French delegation head at St Paul’s Hospital in Hanoi. He had extreme facial burns, and was still unconscious.

One French diplomat theorised that the bombs were a forced drop from a damaged jet, but this diplomat added he was inside the residence at the time of the attack and did not see the plane. I did, and the low-hitting jet was not damaged. Mr Susini had been greeting the Albanian Ambassador outside the residence when the bombs dropped. The Albanian escaped with lesser injuries.