The World - News from Sept. 22, 1989

The French military set up an airlift to transport the remains of 171 victims from the crash site of a French airliner in a remote African desert, and a search began for evidence that the midair explosion that brought the jet down was caused by a terrorist bomb. A preliminary investigation at the sweltering crash site in Niger turned up clear indications that the DC-10 operated by the French airline UTA had blown apart in midair, officials said. They said debris from Tuesday’s crash was scattered over 40 square miles and that a wing was found six miles away from the cabin. All aboard were killed. Investigators also located the flight recorder, a key piece of evidence for air safety experts trying to piece together the cause of a crash.