Trio’s truck crashes gate to West

Press, 30 August 1986, Page 10

Trio’s truck crashes gate to West

NZPA-Reuter West Berlin An East German family made a dramatic midnight escape to the west under gunfire when they smashed a speeding truck through barriers at Checkpoint Charlie, in West Berlin, yesterday. It was the second time in 24 hours Communist guards had opened fire at the fortified communistbuilt Berlin Wall.

A police spokesman said the East Germans —

a man, a woman, and a child — were unhurt in the escape, which triggered a security clamp-down on dark backstreets at the East Berlin side of the checkpoint Plainclothes security officials and extra groups of uniformed armed border troops stood guard next to the buckled barriers. The family was interviewed by American officials responsible for security in that part of the

city and were expected to be taken to a reception centre. A West Berlin policeman at Checkpoint Charlie, one of the main EastWest crossings in the city, said, “The first I heard was a klaxon alarm and sounds like shots. It was all over in about five to 10 seconds ... I suppose he had surprise on his side.” He said he saw the truck, bearing the marks of an East German building firm, speed past an open barrier and crash

through double steel gates that were just closing. The police said the truck sped on past a West Berlin police check and raced off into the city without stopping. The escapers later reported to officials in the city. A Reuter journalist crossing from West to East shortly after the escape found the lorry had apparently smashed down at least two barriers before it hit the gates. The first steel barrier at the entrance to the

eastern side of the checkpoint, where guards make an initial passport check, had been uprooted from its mounting. Twenty metres further on, a second low iron gate was tom from the ground and concrete strewn around. A smashed glass partition panel suggested the truck had slewed to the right under the impact The vehicle would then have had to race up to 100 m across a floodlit border zone overlooked

by guards and watchtowers before reaching the steel gates. The gates close automatically when the klaxon alarm is given and the truck clearly hit them with only seconds to spare before they fully closed. On Wednesday, western authorities protested to the East after border guards shot at and captured an East German trying to escape to the west. He was apparently not injured.