Klinghoffer Body Identified, Two Gunshot Wounds on It : Find Backs Passengers’ Accounts

A body that washed ashore near the Syrian port of Tartus was positively identified today as that of Leon Klinghoffer, the elderly American who was believed murdered by Palestinian gunmen aboard the hijacked Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro.

A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Damascus said Klinghoffer’s corpse had “at least two” gunshot wounds, which would confirm accounts from passengers on the cruise liner that Klinghoffer was shot by the hijackers and then hurled into the sea on Oct. 8 as the ship steamed near the Syrian coast.

The spokesmen said the identification of the body was made at the Tishrin Military Hospital in Damascus by Syrian pathologists and an FBI agent who was sent from Rome after earlier attempts to identify the corpse were unsuccessful.

Body Sent to Rome

The identification was made conclusively from fingerprint and dental X-ray information as well as physical characteristics such as hair color, the spokesman said. The body was sent to Rome later in the day for an autopsy. The four hijackers of the Achille Lauro are being held in an Italian prison on charges of murder and kidnaping for commandeering the ocean liner near Port Said, Egypt, on Oct. 7.

Klinghoffer, who was 69, was a retired New York businessman and was confined to a wheelchair. His death on the Achille Lauro prompted the Reagan Administration to use U.S. warplanes to intercept an EgyptAir jetliner that was carrying the hijackers out of Cairo after they had surrendered to Egyptian authorities.

The Palestine Liberation Front, a small Tunisia-based guerrilla group to which the four hijackers are believed to belong, has denied that Klinghoffer was murdered by the Palestinians. It suggested that he may have suffered a heart attack.

Embassy officials said that the preliminary examination carried out in Damascus did not establish a cause of death. One possibility was that Klinghoffer was still alive, though mortally wounded, when the hijackers threw him and his wheelchair into the sea from an upper deck.

No Witnesses

None of the passengers aboard the Achille Lauro witnessed the death. According to most accounts, Klinghoffer was separated from the rest of the passengers by the gunmen and taken to a forward deck on Oct. 8. A short time later, passengers reported hearing two gunshots and a “double splash,” presumed to be his body and wheelchair being thrown into the water.

U.S. officials said no bullets were believed to have been found in Klinghoffer’s body. There were believed to be entry and exit wounds for two gunshots.

The body was said to be in “very, very bad condition,” the embassy spokesman said. If the corpse washed ashore on Sunday, as reported by the Syrians, it had been in the water for five days.

Syrians Called Helpful

U.S. officials said the Syrian government was particularly helpful in arranging the identification of Klinghoffer’s remains.

Political analysts noted that the discovery of gunshot wounds might prove extremely embarrassing to Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, after statements from the group denying that Klinghoffer had been murdered.

The Syrian government has been at odds with Arafat since 1983, most recently because Syrian officials fear that the PLO leader might reach a political accommodation with the United States and Israel.