UTA Flight 772

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009)

UTA Flight 772

Route taken by UTA Flight 772.
Occurrence summary
Date	19 September 1989
Type	In-flight explosion
Site	Sahara Desert 16°51′55″N 11°57′10″E / 16.86528°N 11.95278°E / 16.86528; 11.95278Coordinates: 16°51′55″N 11°57′10″E / 16.86528°N 11.95278°E / 16.86528; 11.95278
Passengers	156
Crew	14
Injuries	0
Fatalities	170
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30
Operator	Union des Transports Aériens (UTA)
Tail number	N54629
Flight origin	Maya-Maya Airport
Last stopover	N'Djamena International Airport
Destination	Charles De Gaulle International Airport

UTA Flight 772 of the French airline Union des Transports Aériens was a scheduled flight operating from Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo, via N'Djamena in Chad, to Paris CDG airport in France.

On 19 September 1989 the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft registered N54629 took off from N'Djamena International Airport at 13:13. Forty six minutes later, at its cruising altitude of 10,700 metres (35,000 ft), an explosion caused UTA Flight 772 to break up over the Sahara Desert near the towns of Bilma and Ténéré in Niger. All 156 passengers and 14 crew members died, including Bonnie Pugh, wife of the American ambassador to Chad, Robert Pugh.^[1]

Contents 1 Victims 2 Investigation 3 Trial in absentia 4 Libyan compensation 5 Popular references 6 Memorial 7 Notes 8 References 9 See also

[edit] Victims

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009)

On the flight deck were Captain Georges Raveneau, First Officer Jean-Pierre Hennequin, Flight Engineer Alain Bricout. In the Cabin, Pursers Jean-Pierre Baschung and Michele Vasseur along with Flight Attendants Alain Blanc, Laurence de Boery-Penon, Martine Brette, Anne Claisse, Nicole Deblicker, Ethery Lenoble, Gael Lugagne, Veronique Marella, Jean-Pierre Mauboussin.

The victims came from 18 different countries, the majority being French or Congolese nationals: 54 French, 48 nationals of Republic of Congo, 25 Chadians, 9 Italians, 7 Americans, 5 Cameronians, 4 Britons, 3 nationals of Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo), 3 Canadians, 2 Central Africans, 2 Malians, 2 Swiss, 1 Algerian, 1 Bolivian, 1 Belgian, 1 Greek, 1 Moroccan and 1 Senegalese.

[edit] Investigation

An investigation commission of the ICAO^{[Note 1]} determined that a bomb placed in a container in location 13-R in the forward cargo hold caused the destruction of the aircraft. The commission suggested that the most plausible hypothesis was for the bomb to have been inside the baggage loaded at Brazzaville airport. Initial speculation over which groups might have been responsible for destroying UTA Flight 772 centered upon Islamic Jihad, who were quick to claim responsibility for the attack, and the "Secret Chadian Resistance" rebel group, which opposed president Hissen Habré.^[2] Five years previously, on 10 March 1984, a bomb destroyed another UTA aircraft from Brazzaville shortly after the DC-8 had landed at N'Djamena airport. There were no fatalities on that occasion and those responsible were never identified.^[3]

Wreckage of the aircraft was sent to France for forensic examination, where traces of the explosive pentrite were found in the forward cargo hold. Pieces of a dark grey Samsonite suitcase covered in a layer of pentrite convinced the investigators that this was the source of the explosion. It had been loaded in Brazzaville.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Trial in absentia

The investigators obtained a confession from one of the alleged terrorists, a Congolese opposition figure, who had helped recruit a fellow dissident to smuggle the bomb onto the aircraft.^[4] This confession led to charges being brought against six Libyans. French judge Jean-Louis Bruguière identified them, as follows:

• Abdullah Sanussi, brother-in-law of Muammar al-Gaddafi, and deputy head of Libyan intelligence;
• Abdullah Elazragh, Counsellor at the Libyan embassy in Brazzaville;
• Ibrahim Naeli and Arbas Musbah, explosives experts in the Libyan secret service;
• Issa Shibani, the secret agent who purchased the timer that allegedly triggered the bomb; and,
• Abdelsalam Hammouda, Sanussi's right-hand man, who was said to have coordinated the attack.

In 1999, the six Libyans were put on trial in the Paris Assize Court for the bombing of UTA Flight 772. Because Gaddafi would not allow their extradition to France, the six were tried in absentia and were convicted.

On 16 August 2003 Libya formally admitted responsibility for Pan Am Flight 103 in a letter presented to the president of the United Nations Security Council. Felicity Barringer of The New York Times said that the letter had "general language that lacked any expression of remorse" for the people killed in the bombing.^[5][6]

The motive usually attributed to Libya for the UTA Flight 772 bombing is that of revenge on the French for supporting Chad against the expansionist projects of Libya toward Chad. Libya was understood to have considered this French support as "neo-colonialist".^[7] The Chadian–Libyan conflict (1978–1987) ended in disaster for Libya with the 1987 Toyota War —almost exactly two years later UTA Flight 772 was bombed.

[edit] Libyan compensation

The Paris court awarded the families of the UTA victims sums ranging from €3 000 to €30 000 depending on their relationship to the dead. Not content with this award, the French relatives' group "Les Familles du DC10 d'UTA"^[8] signed an agreement on 9 January 2004 with the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations accepting a compensation payment of $170 million United States dollars, or $1 million for each of the 170 UTA victims. By 2007-05, it was reported that 95% of this compensation money had been distributed.^[9] However, the families of the seven American victims refused to accept their $1 million USD awards and are pursuing the Libyan government through a federal court in Washington. On 19 September 2006, the court was asked to rule that the Libyan government and six of its agents were guilty of the 19 September 1989 destruction of UTA Flight 772. Damages of more than $2 billion USD were claimed for the loss of life and the destruction of the DC-10 jet.^[10]

In April 2007, D.C. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy found Libya directly responsible for the bombing and presided over a three day bench trial from 13 August 2007 to 15 August 2007. On 15 January 2008, Judge Kennedy issued an order awarding $6 billion USD in damages to the families and owners of the airliner.^{[1][11][12][13]} Libya has appealed this decision.

In October 2008 Libya paid $1.5 billion into a fund which will be used to compensate relatives of the

1. Lockerbie bombing victims with the remaining 20%;
2. American victims of the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing;
3. American victims of the 1989 UTA Flight 772 bombing; and,
4. Libyan victims of the 1986 US bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi.

As a result, President George W. Bush signed an executive order restoring the Libyan government's immunity from terror-related lawsuits and dismissing all of the pending compensation cases in the US, the White House said. ^[14]

[edit] Popular references

• The song 'Le grand frère' by French artist Adb al-Malik is about one of the victims of UTA Flight 772^{[citation needed]}
• In his book The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa, Rush drummer Neil Peart noted that he and two of his riding companions had flown on this particular flight months earlier after their bicycle journey through Cameroon and is forever haunted by the crash.

[edit] Memorial

In 2007 a memorial was created in the desert by Les Familles de l’Attentat du DC-10 d’UTA, an association of the victims’ families. The memorial is constructed of black rock in the shape of the DC10 airplane inside a compass^[15][16].

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners
• Pan Am Flight 73
• Air India Flight 182
• Pan Am Flight 103
• Pierre Péan

v • d • e ← 1988 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1989 1990→ Kegworth air disaster (British Midland 92) (January 8) — Independent Air Flight 1851 (February 8) — Flying Tiger Line Flight 66 (February 19) — United Airlines Flight 811 (February 24) — Air Ontario Flight 1363 (March 10) — Surinam Airways Flight 764 (June 7) — Belgian MiG-23 crash (July 4) — United Airlines Flight 232 (July 19) — Varig Flight 254 (September 3) — Partnair Flight 394 (September 8) — UTA Flight 772 (September 19) — USAir Flight 5050 (September 20) — Avianca Flight 203 (November 27) — KLM Flight 867 (December 15) Bold indicates incidents resulting at least 50 deaths (current article is always in bold) Orange color indicates the deadliest incident in 1989