Stethem Killed in Frustration, TWA Crew Says

The three-man flight crew held hostage aboard a TWA plane for 17 days described today how the hijackers brutally beat two Navy divers, one of whom they eventually killed, apparently over frustration in getting their demands across because of the language barrier.

John Testrake, 57, captain of Flight 847, also described at a news conference how the two militant Shia terrorists went through the plane looking for U.S. military personnel.

Testrake said they found two men, brought them up to a section just behind the cockpit and bound them.

“They beat on them quite severely,” he said. He apparently referred to Navy divers Robert Stethem and Clinton Suggs.

“They wrenched one of the arms off (Benjamin) Zimmermann’s flight engineer chair and used that as a club to beat these young men. They would jump on them with all of their weight, on their bodies. They jumped on their bodies repeatedly and did this on and off,” Testrake said.

Worst Moment

First Officer Phillip Maresca, 42, said the worst moment of the 17-day ordeal for him was when the hijackers killed Stethem.

“I felt almost partially responsible for that,” he said, explaining the hijackers became frustrated when they failed because of the language barrier to get their demands across.

It was Maresca who was handling the radio and trying to make demands known.

Zimmermann, 45, the crew flight engineer, described living conditions for the captive crew, which was held aboard the jet during the entire standoff.

Asked to describe sleeping arrangements, he quipped, “We chose to go coach.”

He explained that the three-seat-across coach section was wider than first class and by lifting up the arm rests “we each were able to develop our own little hovels back there.”

All three agreed that the original hijackers should be caught and punished for their actions, but they expressed sympathy for the problems facing the Lebanese people and wished them no harm.