West German Linked to Libya Tries Suicide

The director of a chemical company accused of helping Libya build a suspected poison gas plant was found unconscious in his car after attempting suicide, police said today.

Hans Renner, the 60-year-old executive director of the embattled Imhausen-Chemie firm, was discovered by forestry workers at 12:30 p.m. Thursday after he had consumed something apparently intended to kill him, said a Lahr Police Department spokesman, Emil Roth.

Roth said that Renner left no written message as to his reasons for the suicide attempt, but that officers were questioning his wife about possible motives. The spokesman declined to specify what substance Renner had consumed.

Renner, whose car was discovered in a forest outside of Lahr where he lives, remained unconscious today at the regional hospital.

He had been directing business at the chemical company since its president, Juergen Hippenstiel-Imhausen, left the country shortly after U.S. authorities accused the company of having provided key technical assistance to Libya in building the plant at Rabta.

U.S. and West German authorities say they have intelligence evidence showing that the plant is intended to produce poisonous gases. Libya, however, contends that it is a pharmaceutical factory.