Crew describes beatings, killing

Press, 5 July 1985, Page 6

Crew describes beatings, killing

NZPA-AP New York The three-man flight crew held hostage aboard a T.W.A. plane for 17 days described yesterday how the hijackers beat two United States Navy divers, one of whom they eventually killed, apparently over frustration in getting their demands across. Captain John Testrake, aged 57, also described at a news conference how the militant Shi’ite terrorists went through the plane looking for United States military personnel. Captain Testrake, of Richmbnd, Missouri, said they found two men and took them up to a section right behind the cockpit, where the two men were bound. “They beat on them quite severely,” he said. “They wrenched one of the arms off Mr (Benjamin) Zimmermann’s ... flight engineer chair and used that as a club to beat these young men. They would jump on them with all of their weight, on their bodies. They jumped on their bodies repeatedly and did this on and off,” he said. First Officer Phillip Maresca, aged 42, of Salt Lake City, said the worst moment of the 17-day ordeal for him was when the hijackers killed Robert Stethem, a Navy diver. “I felt almost partially responsible for that,” he said, explaining the hijackers had become frustrated when they failed because of the language barrier to get their demands across. First Officer Maresca was handling the radio and trying to make the demands known. Asked if he thought that was why Stethem was shot and dumped on the runway, First Officer Maresca bowed his head slightly and said, “I believe so ... This was definitely the low point for me.” Captain Testrake said things got better after the crew requested that some of the more moderate Amal

militiamen be allowed aboard the plane to act as mediators between the crew and the original hijackers. All three agreed that the original hijackers should be caught and punished for their actions, but they expressed sympathy for the problems facing the Lebanese people and wished them no harm. Captivity in Lebanon included beatings, vermininfested living quarters, the sight of casual shootings and political propaganda, several of the other former hostages say in accounts that contrast with the rosier picture conveyed during their ordeal. “The hijacking of TWA flight 847 was a publicity stunt,” said Richard Herzberg, aged 33, of Norfolk, Virginia, one of four men separated from the rest because of his Jewishsounding surname. Mr Herzberg said his captors had duped the American public into thinking, “This was fun and these are nice people.” “It was hell. It is still hell right now. If anybody thinks .it was a party, they’re sick. “At first I was held in a cell for eight days without a shower, without seeing light, without having a toilet.” On the ninth day, he and the other three captives were moved to what they dubbed the “Beirut Villa” because it had bathrooms and other basic comforts. Thomas Cullins, aged 42, of Burlington, Vermont, said that he now was embarrassed about telling reporters while in captivity that he and his fellow hostages appreciated the Amals’ hospitality. Arthur Toga, aged 33, of St Louis, said the hostages were kept in small groups in run-down apartments crawling with cockroaches and rats. Peter Hill, aged 57, of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, said that he witnessed two shootings, one an accident, and that his captors apparently thought nothing of

them. The accident occurred when one young Shi’ite was playing with a gun he thought was empty. He said the Shi’ite Amal militia, which took control of the captives from the original hijackers, tried to indoctrinate the hostages. He and others also took issue with a hostage, Allyn Conwell, and others who expressed strong sympathy for the Amal cause during their captivity. “You have to understand that most of those people, those hostages, couldn’t find Lebanon on a map three weeks ago,” said Mr Hill, who had been to the Middle East more than 100 times and was leading a group of 34 tourists when he was captured. “So the only thing they knew about this was the indoctrination to which they were subjected. So I don’t blame them.” The worst accounts were of the first days of the hijacking while the hostages were still aboard aircraft. Clinton Suggs, a Navy diver stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, said he was next in line to be shot and was only l’/2 metres from Stethem, who was beaten, then shot to death. Suggs said that a flight attendent, Uli Derickson, saved his life. “While they were beating Robert when we had landed in Beirut the second time, I could hear his screaming and yelling and he was just in sheer agony. And then I heard the gun go off ... “And then I could hear them say, ‘One more.’ Five minutes. And the hijacker came back where I was and he was kicking me and hitting me and calling me ‘American pig.’ And then the stewardess rushed over and she talked to him and said, ‘No, please please.’ “Her pleas apparently bought precious time, because within minutes other Lebanese militiamen boarded the plane. And then right after that, we all stood up and we were rushed off the back of the plane on to a truck.”