Battered frigate will limp on to Bahrain

Press, 20 May 1987, Page 10

Battered frigate will limp on to Bahrain

NZPA-Reuter Bahrain Holed, listing and burning, the battered U.S.S. Stark passed its second night at sea after an Iraqi Exocet missile attack killed 28 sailors and wounded many more. With protective warships and tugs standing by, the 3585-ton guided missile frigate wallowed in calm seas yesterday 70 miles north-east of the Gulf island State of Bahrain, a short distance from where it was hit The United States warships guarding the Stark were all on high alert after fresh orders from Washington yesterday to open fire on Iraqi or Iranian planes showing hostile intent Fire-fighters and damage control parties fought throughout the night to keep flames and smoke under control and to stabilise the listing ship, badly holed on the starboard side. "The fires now appear to be under control and search and rescue efforts continue,” an American official said. An embassy statement said the ship would be taken to Bahrain.

Two badly wounded crewmen, taken to Bahrain by helicopter, left by special aircraft for treatment in West Germany. The United States Ambassador, Mr Sam Zakhem, told reporters that apart from the two badly wounded men, four other sailors had suffered moderate injuries while 24 had minor wounds. Two sailors were missing. “They didn’t know what hit them,” the Ambassador said of survivors of the attack after visiting them in hospital. “They were on deck, then a huge bang — then they fell through a huge hole into the sea.” The Stark, part of a force of six medium-sized United States warships in the Gulf — none bigger than a destroyer — was hit by an Iraqi Air Force fighter in what Baghdad said was a mistake. President Saddam Hussein in a message to President Ronald Reagan acknowledged Iraq was responsible for the attack, adding: “I hope this unintentional accident will not affect relations between Iraq and the United

States.” A State Department spokesman in Washington said the attacking planes were under electronic observation by a Saudi Arabian surveillance plane. Military and diplomatic sources in the Gulf were puzzled over how the Iraqi aircraft was able to attack so effectively a ship armed with the latest anti-missile systems. A Pentagon statement that the Stark warned the Iraqi aircraft twice before it launched its missile added to the mystery, suggesting it could not have been a surprise attack. A retired Iraqi Air Force officer told Reuters in Baghdad that the fighter would not have been able to identify the nationality or type of ship on its radar before releasing the French-made missile. Any warnings by the Stark on identity might have been misunderstood by the Iraqi pilot or could have come after the missile began to burn its way to the ship. The United States demanded an urgent explanation from Baghdad,

which earlier this year said it would redouble attacks on Iranian oil sites, including. tankers carrying Iranian oil in the Gulf. * c

Iran retaliates by attacking ships linked to Kuwait which supports Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war. Baghdad exports its oil by pipeline across Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Iran,. which says the security of the Gulf is the exclusive interest of Gulf littoral States, has maintained it would stop attacking ships if Iraq stopped hitting its tankers and other oil assets. The Iranian Prime Minister, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, said in Teheran that the attack on the Stark showed the United States was trapped by its Gulf policies. He warned the United States and the Soviet Union, which is also increasing its naval presence in the waterway, to stay away or risk further humiliations. A Soviet tanker chartered to Kuwait, escorted by a Soviet frigate, was holed by a mine of unknown origin near Kuwait at the week-end.