Unanswered questions remain in 1970 Swissair crash
Following revelations that Switzerland and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) concluded a secret deal in 1970 to avert further terrorist attacks against the country, swissinfo.ch looks at the fatal plane crash that acted as catalyst for the negotiations.
This content was published on January 21, 2016 - 11:41- Deutsch Unbeantwortete Fragen beim Swissair-Absturz von 1970
- Español Interrogantes abiertos sobre el accidente de Swissair en 1970
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- 中文 揭密瑞士一场难以解释的空难
- عربي حادثة تحطم طائرة "سويس اير" سنة 1970 لم تبُح بكل أسرارها
- Français Zones d’ombre autour d’un crash en 1970
- Pусский Катастрофа самолета Swissair в 1970 году: вопросы остаются!
- 日本語 1970年のスイス航空機爆破事件、未解決のままの疑惑
- Italiano Interrogativi rimasti su schianto dell'aereo Swissair nel 1970
On February 21, 1970, a cold and wet Saturday, Switzerland was shaken when Swissair 330 bound for Tel Aviv crashed shortly after take-off from Zurich, killing everyone on board: 38 passengers and nine crew.
“330 is going down,” co-pilot Armand Etienne told the control tower in German. “Goodbye everybody,” he added in English. These final words were said at 1:34pm.
About 15 minutes earlier, an altitude-sensitive bomb had exploded in the rear cargo compartment. The crew tried to turn around and attempt an emergency landing at Zurich but struggled to see the instruments in the smoke-filled cockpit. The aircraft deviated to the west and crashed in a wooded area at Würenlingen as a result of loss of electrical power.
Arthur Schneider, a local politician at the time, arrived on the scene about half an hour later. “I saw a hand just lying there on the forest floor. I can’t get that image out of my head,” the 74-year-old told Swiss public television SRF.
Other witnesses reported seeing a “massive fireball”, with one fearing the plane had crashed into the nearby nuclear power plant. The wreck was eventually found a few hundred metres from the plant.
Swiss news agencies said the PLO had claimed responsibility, although other media reports said the group denied involvement.
Within a few days the main suspect was named as a Jordanian national who had allegedly deposited the bomb in Munich with the intention of blowing up an Israeli plane. However, as a result of a flight diversion, it ended up on a Swissair plane.
Yet the Jordanian and other suspects were never taken to court, despite arrest warrants. The Swiss investigator, Robert Akeret, handed his report to the federal attorney-general but says today that Bern threw a “cloak of silence” over the case.
The investigation into the crash of Swissair flight 330 in Würenligen was discontinued permanently in 2000.
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