Many chances to kill guards —crew

Press, 2 July 1985, Page 10

Many chances to kill guards —crew

NZPA-Reuter Beirut One of three crewmen kept aboard the Trans World Airlines plane during the hijack said they had many chances to kill their guards and try to escape but did not want to risk the lives of other hostages, who were held elsewhere.

“There were usually about seven gunmen on board. Often they were all asleep with their guns lying around on the chairs,” said Christian Zimmerman, the flight engineer.

He added: “We discussed whether to do something but decided we couldn’t put the other hostages at risk.”

Mr Zimmerman was among hostages who spoke to a group of journalists at the week-end while awaiting release. They asked that their comments be withheld until they were on the way home.

He said the guards on the plane were mostly youths, who ransacked the plane for souvenirs and were fascinated by the cockpit. “It became a junkyard in there and sometimes we had to play off the two groups to stop things being damaged,” Mr Zimmerman said. The crew was taken off at night to drink tea and chat with Shi’ite Amal officers at the airport. The pilot, John Testrake, said it got “somewhat smelly and a mess” inside the plane, “but we got used to it after a while and, as we got to co-exist with them better, we got them to clean it out.”