Rifle in Back, Waiter Tossed Body Into Sea

The hijackers of the Achille Lauro used a rifle to force the ship’s hairdresser and a waiter to throw Leon Klinghoffer’s body into the sea, an Italian newspaper reported today.

The waiter, Joaquim Pineiro da Silva, was quoted as saying that two hijackers held an automatic rifle to his back and threatened to kill him and the hairdresser, Ferruccio Alberti, if they did not obey.

“So Ferruccio and I picked up the old American by the armpits and turned him around,” he told Corriere della Sera, Italy’s largest newspaper.

Covered With Blood

“He was all covered with blood, so much that we couldn’t figure out where he was hit. We picked him up. He was already almost cold.

“I wish I could cry, but I can’t,” Da Silva, 27, a Portuguese citizen, said.

The waiter gave the account in an interview after the cruise ship returned Wednesday night to Genoa, its home port.

Officials said Thursday there is no doubt that the four pirates killed the 69-year-old New Yorker, who was confined to a wheelchair.

Klinghoffer’s body drifted ashore in Syria on Monday and was brought to Rome for an autopsy that determined he died of gunshot wounds. Judicial sources said the body probably will be flown home Saturday or Sunday.