Pan Am Debris Points to Bomb : Lab Tests ‘Greatly Strengthen’ Theory of Sabotage, Sources Say

Preliminary laboratory analysis of wreckage from Pan Am Flight 103 on Tuesday uncovered evidence suggesting strongly that sabotage caused the plane to crash in Scotland last week, according to U.S. sources close to the investigation.

Tests conducted by forensic experts in England on a suitcase and some of the wreckage from the downed plane have “greatly strengthened” suspicions that the New York-bound Boeing 747 was blown apart in midair by a bomb last Wednesday, the sources said.

Conclusive proof of sabotage has not been found, they cautioned. But they said early indications from a specialized explosives laboratory in England represent a major development in the investigation, providing significant physical evidence supporting initial suspicions of sabotage.

‘A Definite Trend’

“There is now a definite trend toward accepting a sabotage theory of the incident,” said one source, who has remained in close touch with those conducting the investigation. Another U.S. source said he shared that assessment, although he emphasized that the indications from Britain are “preliminary and not conclusive.”

The Times of London reported today that crash investigators believe heat damage to the plastic lining of the jet’s cargo bay was most likely caused by an explosion among the luggage.

The newspaper, which did not identify the investigators and experts cited, also said that some of the recovered bodies of the passengers and crew were found to have slivers of metal embedded in them, another indication of a bomb.

The suitcase and pieces of wreckage had been sent Monday to the laboratory at the Royal Armaments Research and Development Establishment in Ft. Halstead, southeast of London, where forensic experts are to search for traces of a bomb. The first day of forensic testing provided strong indications that a “pre-impact explosion” had occurred aboard the plane, the U.S. sources said late Tuesday.

All of the 259 passengers and crew aboard the plane, many of them Americans, were killed, along with at least 11 residents of the southwestern Scottish town of Lockerbie, where much of the plane fell. On Tuesday, the first bodies of Americans killed in the incident were transported out of Scotland on the first leg of their journey home.

U.S. Is Informed

The State Department refused to comment on the progress of the British investigation, but a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the U.S. government has been told that new forensic evidence points toward sabotage.

“But we don’t know how firm it is,” the official said. “We don’t know when the British are going to feel ready to issue a report.”

The possibility that massive structural failure caused the crash of the Pan Am jumbo jet has not been ruled out. But British authorities have said that “no evidence of a structural failure has so far been found.”

Saying they were reluctant to speak out before British investigators did, the U.S. sources declined to discuss the nature or extent of the evidence pointing to sabotage that was found Tuesday.

They said the identification of the suitcase in question and wreckage suggested that investigators suspect where an explosion might have taken place in the plane. But they made clear that the suitcase was not thought to have contained a bomb.

“Any suitcase used to disguise a bomb could not have survived the explosion,” said a non-government expert on terrorism, who asked not to be identified. He said he understood that the suitcase, like the other pieces of wreckage, was being scrutinized because it was believed to show the impact of an explosion.

Ripped and Torn

The Times of London reported that the suitcase, noticed lying among the wreckage, was ripped and torn and might have been damaged by flying metal. A top Scottish investigator, Paul Newell, told CBS-TV that the suitcase and the “parts that were in the suitcase” had been found in hills east of Lockerbie.

At the laboratory conducting the tests, which is Britain’s leading explosives unit, forensic experts are likely to be searching for the minute signs of the telltale signature that a bomb inevitably leaves, U.S. experts said.

“What you’re looking for is residue and parts of the explosive,” said James C. Ronay, the FBI explosives chief. Also, he said, a bomb causes “ripping, tearing and melting” that is different from other forms of trauma.

The pathologists carrying out autopsies on the crash victims are expected to provide further clues, investigators have said. The types of injuries sustained are to be plotted against a seating chart to help pinpoint the center of any blast that might have occurred.

As the investigation continued, the bodies of five American victims began their journey home Tuesday night, being driven out of Lockerbie as hundreds of village residents lined the streets in silent tribute, according to the Reuters news agency.

The vehicle carrying the bodies, escorted by a lone police officer on a motorcycle, headed toward London’s Heathrow Airport for a flight home to the United States.

The five were identified as Kenneth Garczynski of North Brunswick, N.J.; Orm Dixit of Fairborn, Ohio, and his wife, Shenti; and two infants, Suruchi Ratan and her brother, Anmol, of Warren, Mich.

240 Bodies Recovered

The corpses were the first of the 240 recovered so far to be released to their families, many of whom have converged on Lockerbie. Thirty bodies, including those of 11 townspeople, are still missing.

The number of passengers and crew killed in the accident had been reported to be 258 but was amended to 259 on Tuesday to reflect new knowledge of an infant aboard the plane who had not previously been counted.

The massive manhunt for the still-missing bodies increased further Tuesday as another 200 troops joined the 600 police and soldiers already searching the dense woods, hills and moors, according to the Associated Press.

Times staff writer Doyle McManus contributed to this story.