rjnoe@ihlts.UUCP (09/01/83)
U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz confirmed within the last hour (before this posting) that Soviet fighter aircraft (probably MiG-23's) had fired a missile and shot down Korean Air Lines flight 007, a Boeing 747 commercial aircraft with 269 passengers and crew on board. Included among the passengers was a U.S. congressman. The flight originated in New York and was on the last leg of its journey, from Anchorage, Alaska to Seoul, South Korea. Intercepted radio transmissions from the Soviet fighters indicated that they had tracked the craft for 2.5 hours before the incident, from about 1600 to 1830 GMT, or about 0200 to 0430 local time (yesterday). The fighter pilots were in constant contact with their ground controllers throughout. Further, the pilots reported being in visual contact with the commercial aircraft before firing on it. Soviets began search and rescue procedures after the 747 was downed, apparently with no success yet. As of this moment, any survivors will have been in the water for about 21 hours. Local time at the last known position of the aircraft is just after midnight and search procedures will probably not be fruitful until dawn. The Secretary expressed outrage, horror, and revulsion that the Soviets would have fired upon an unarmed commercial aircraft. The Soviet government has not yet offered any explanation. Roger Noe ...ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe
rjnoe@ihlts.UUCP (09/01/83)
A couple of relevant facts I neglected to mention: The Korean Air Lines flight had in fact strayed into Soviet air space near an island north of Japan on which a portion of the Soviet air defense command is based. There is no indication either that there was any communication between the Soviets and the crew of the airliner or that there was any attempt to force the 747 to land. The U.S. congressman believed to have been on board is Georgia's Lawrence MacDonald. The U.S. Secretary of State has been in contact with the charge d'affaires at the Soviet embassy but the Soviet government has not yet responded to the demand for an explanation. Roger Noe ...ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe