TWA Retrieves Jet Seized in Beirut Hijacking Drama

The TWA Boeing 727 which was the focal point of a two-week hostage drama in June was quietly flown out of Beirut Friday as artillery battles raged in the Lebanese capital.

An American crew flew the TWA plane to Cyprus for a six-hour maintenance and refueling stop, then continued on to Rome.

The plane was hijacked by Lebanese Shia Muslim radicals on June 14. The gunmen shot and killed an American Navy diver and held three members of the crew and 36 American male passengers hostage in Beirut for 17 days, while the Shias tried to get Israel to free 700 Lebanese prisoners.

A TWA spokesman said the $12-million plane was released after weeks of negotiations between several U.S. and international agencies. He refused to give details.

In Beirut on Friday, Christian and Muslim forces exchanged artillery and mortar barrages that killed 18 people and wounded 82, bringing the toll to at least 51 dead and nearly 250 wounded since the shooting began last weekend across the Green Line that divides the capital. Most of the casualties have been civilians.

Three masked gunmen of the Christian Lebanese Forces, the Falangist militia, opened fire as a convoy carrying the West German ambassador, Hans Eitel, tried to cross the Green Line, militia officials and radio reports said. Eitel escaped injury but his driver was killed.