Tanker latest M.E. victim

Press, 30 August 1989, Page 11

Tanker latest M.E. victim

NZPA-Reuter Beirut Fire-fighting tugs were battling a huge blaze on board a tanker blasted by shellfire while trying to break the Syrian gunboat blockade of Lebanon’s Christian enclave yesterday. The Christian Voice of Lebanon said nine men were missing from the tanker Sea Shield, lashed by Syrian shells when it was within a couple of miles of Jounieh port. Two seamen were pulled alive from the sea.

The nationality of the missing and rescued men was not immediately known. Vessels running the blockade frequently disguise their true identities.

Dense clouds of choking black

smoke from the blazing vessel were billowing over the Christian port at dawn, onlookers said. The tanker was struck during furious exchanges of artillery fire between Syrian forces and troops loyal to the Christian Army commander, Michel Aoun. In the battles, which died away at first light, one man was killed and eight people were wounded, security sources said. They said a man was killed and six were wounded in Muslim west Beirut when shells crashed into residential areas while a woman was injured in Syrian shelling of the Christian enclave.

The fighting was the latest in a series of flare-ups since the United

Nations called for an immediate ceasefire in mid-August to halt five months of artillery battles in which at least 760 people have been killed and 3300 wounded.

The shelling came after a warning by pro-Syrian Leftist and Muslim forces to the Pope against visiting Lebanon. The Vatican said on Friday it was trying to arrange a humanitarian visit to Lebanon during which the Pope would meet representatives of both Christian and Muslim communities.

The French envoy, Francois Scheer, was expected in Lebanon after meeting the Syrian President, Hafez Assad, yesterday and discussing with him a French peace plan.