Pirates made death list

Press, 12 October 1985, Page 10

Pirates made death list

NZPA-AP Cairo The Palestinians who hijacked the Achille Lauro shuffled passports to make up a death list of passengers and intended to work down the list when they killed a crippled American, says the husband of a freed hostage. Neil Kantor, whose wife, June, was among 11 Americans who left the ship in Port Said yesterday after two days of terror at sea, said that he had heard of the plan from the passengers. “They made up a list of who they were going to kill and they were just going to go down the list,” said Mr Kantor. The victim, Leon Klinghoffer, aged 69, of New York City, was left partially

paralysed by a stroke six years ago and was often confined to a wheelchair. Western diplomats said that Mr Klinghoffer was killed by one of the gunmen on Wednesday and thrown into the Mediterranean off Syria. Other former hostages have already reported being hit and terrorised by the hijackers, and that the American passengers were separated from others aboard the ship. The Italian Ambassador, Mr Giovanni Migliuolo, said in Port Said that the gunmen had planned to kill an unidentified woman but the ship’s master, Captain Gerardo de Rosa had talked them out of it. Mr Kantor, of New Jer-

sey, said that the pirates apparently had shuffled the Sts of Englishg passengers to decide the order in which they would die. Leon Klinghoffer was first Seymour Meskin, aged 71, of Union, New Jersey, former hostage with his wife, Viola, said that he thought the pirates had chosen certain hostages for harsh treatment simply because they were British or American and not because of religion. Mr Klinghoffer, was a Jew. Mr Meskin said that shortly before Mr Klinghoffer’s death the gunmen took the American passengers, and two Austrian

Jews and five women of a British dance troupe, to an upper deck and forced them to kneel for three hours. “Klinghoffer did not walk very well and when they took us up on the deck, he couldn’t walk upstairs and he was left behind,” Mr Meskin sail When the Americans, British dancers, and the Austrians were allowed to join the rest of the passengers, Mr Klinghoffer was missing, Mr Meskin said. “We were told he was not feeling very well and was at the hospital, But no-one was allowed to see him,” he said. Mrs Meskin added, “We could hear gun-shots and a splash. None of the hostages saw Klinghoffer slain.”