Two lost from shelled tanker

Press, 31 August 1989, Page 8

Two lost from shelled tanker

NZPA-Reuter Beirut Rescue teams were still searching for two crew lost when Syrian shells hit a fuel tanker as it dodged its way to Lebanon’s Christian enclave. The charred bodies of the captain and six crew were found on Tuesday inside the wreckage of the Maltese-registered Sun Shield, which was carrying 2.6 million litres of petrol. A nurse at a hospital in Christian east Beirut said their corpses were disfigured and their flesh melted to the bones. Naval rescue teams of Army Commander MajorGeneral Michel Aoun, who has vowed to drive Syria’s estimated 33,000 troops out of Lebanon, said the missing men were believed dead. Two other crew escaped and were being treated Meanwhile, the French

envoy Francois Scheer held round-the-clock talks with rival Christian and Muslim leaders about a peace plan to end the country’s 14-year civil war.

“The chances for peace are still good. There can be no solution in Lebanon except a political one,” said Mr Scheer after the talks.

Mr Scheer, who held week-end talks with the Syrian President, Hafez al-Assad, met the Muslim Prime Minister, Selim Hoss, who heads a Syrianbacked cabinet rivalling Aoun’s Christian military one.

The French plan calls for a ceasefire, arms embargo, reforms of the Christian-dominated political system, and the pullout of Syrian troops followed by the departure of Israeli forces from a buffer zone in south Lebanon.