Red Cross Will Relay Messages to Families

WASHINGTON — Richard F. Schubert, president of the American Red Cross, announced Wednesday that his organization will relay messages from the 39 Americans still held in Beirut to their families in the United States.

Schubert also said he expects the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva to soon send him “verification cards” obtained by Red Cross representatives who have interviewed the hostages. The cards, signed by the hostages, will carry an evaluation by the interviewer of the hostage’s physical condition.

Messages from the hostages will be flown from Beirut to Geneva and then to Washington, where teams of volunteers will be standing by to telephone families and read them the messages if they wish, he said. The messages also can be dispatched by express mail to the recipients.

Schubert said he has no idea when either the verification cards or the first messages might arrive. Nor, he said, does he know of any plans to transmit messages from the families to the hostages.