Bomb Explodes on TWA Jet; 4 Die, Plane Lands in Athens : No Group Claims It’s Responsible

A bomb planted in a piece of luggage exploded today on a TWA Boeing 727 flying at 11,000 feet over southern Greece, killing an American man, two women and a child who were blasted out of the plane, officials said.

The jet landed safely, but officials said seven people were injured, including at least four Americans, on Flight 840 from Rome to Athens. TWA officials in New York said 124 people were aboard, including seven crew members.

No one claimed responsibility for the blast. The plane, which was scheduled to continue to Cairo, had arrived in Rome this morning from New York.

Device in Luggage

“The blast was caused by an explosive device in a piece of luggage aboard the plane,” said Yiannis Kapsis, undersecretary for foreign affairs, in a statement.

Panagiotiso Christopoulos, a senior airport security official, identified the dead as Alberto Stino, a Colombian-born American; Dimitra Stylianopoulu, 52, a Greek; her daughter, Maria, 25, and her infant granddaughter.

He said three bodies were found on an unused Greek air force landing strip outside Argos, 30 miles south of Corinth and about 65 miles southwest of Athens. The fourth body was found near the others, he said.

Reports from Greece said the explosion occurred in the cargo section and blew a 9-by-3-foot hole at a spot in front of and above the plane’s right wing as it flew near Corinth at 2:05 p.m. The plane landed safely at Athens Airport about 10 minutes later.

Maybe in Passenger Cabin

But TWA spokesman Dan Kemnitz in New York said, “Our interpretation is that it (the bomb) appeared to be in the passenger cabin, not in the cargo hold.”

Greek officials identified the injured as Henry S. Siemsen, 70, of Los Angeles, a retired U.S. Army colonel; his wife, Myrtle, 67; James Carlton, 29, an American; Eleni Phillips, 63, a Greek-American from Patras, Greece; Despina Siotis, 24, of Athens; Ibrahim Nami, 29, a Saudi Arabian, and his wife, Nala, 30.

Myrtle Siemsen said at Voula Hospital near the airport, “It sounded like there was an explosion right outside the window. I was hit by dozens of fragments of flying glass.”

Nami said he was sitting next to the American man who was sucked out of the plane.

“There was a big bang and then the man beside me was blown out along with his seat. I felt myself being pulled out too and I hung on to my wife’s seat beside me,” he said.

Falling Bodies

A local reporter in Argos said a shepherd saw the bodies tumbling from the sky and alerted police.

“The villagers found them--the partly dismembered body of an elderly man, a woman and a baby girl, about 18 months old, and a shattered plane seat,” the Greek reporter said.

Christopoulos said that after the blast, “The plane stayed up in the air because it was flying at a relatively low altitude so there was little difference in pressure between the cabin and outside.”

Sarah Tittle, 24, a passenger from New York City, said, “There was blood all over the cabin. A piece of flesh landed on my boyfriend and I got blood on me.

“I heard a big boom, there were pieces of cardboard and window flying all over the cabin,” she said. “My foot got cut. . . . There was a lot of noise but people were really calm.”

No Threats Made

Airport officials in Athens said they were not aware of any threats against TWA flights out of Athens in the last few days.

Officials at Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Rome said 101 of the passengers had arrived from New York on another TWA flight, and 10 others began the journey in Rome. (There was no explanation for the discrepancy in the passenger count.)

They said all 111 passengers went through a metal detector in Rome but that the checked baggage of those who came from New York was transferred to the new plane without additional examination.

Flight 840 originated on a Boeing 747 in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning and stopped in New York before proceeding to Rome, said Anita Clark, a reservations agent in Los Angeles. The flight changed to a 727 in Rome for the flight to Athens and Cairo.

Attacks Urged

Libya has called for attacks on Americans after the recent conflict in the Gulf of Sidra prompted an increase in security at airports in Paris and Zurich.

In other major European cities, precautions remain at already high levels in the aftermath of the Dec. 27 terrorist attacks at the Rome and Vienna airports in which 20 people, including five Americans, died.

Last Friday a TWA flight from New York to Bombay was delayed during a Cairo stopover when the airline received a sabotage warning. No bomb was found.

Last June, a TWA jetliner flying from Cairo to Rome via Athens was hijacked to Beirut. A U.S. Navy diver was killed by the hijackers and more than 20 American passengers were held hostage in Beirut for several weeks.