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Swissair Flight 330
Swissair Flight 330 (SR330/SWR330) was a regularly scheduled flight from Zurich Airport in Kloten, Switzerland, to Hong Kong with a planned stopover in Tel Aviv, Israel. On 21 February 1970, a bomb exploded soon after takeoff, causing the plane to crash, killing all 47 passengers and crew. No one was ever charged over the attack, but some sources attribute it to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP–GC).
On 21 February 1970, HB-ICD – a Convair CV-990 Coronado jet named "Baselland" – was flying on the route with 38 passengers and nine crew members. A bomb detonated in the aft cargo compartment of the aircraft about nine minutes after take-off, during the ascent on a southerly course, at approximately 12:15 UTC in the area of Lucerne north of the St. Gotthard Pass. The crew tried to turn the plane around and attempt an emergency landing at Zurich, but had difficulty seeing the instruments due to smoke in the cockpit. The aircraft deviated more and more to the west, and crashed a short time later in a wooded area at Würenlingen near Zurich, Switzerland, due to loss of electrical power. All aboard the aircraft were killed.
A government air inspector was flown to the scene in a helicopter. He was followed shortly afterward by a team of 50 investigators. The police said that a woman handed in a 9-mm pistol found at the scene of the crash immediately after the disaster. Some of the wreckage, including pieces of cloth, was strung out on the tops and branches of trees.
Sabotage was immediately suspected. A possible motive was revenge against Switzerland for three Palestinians who had been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment by a Swiss court. According to a 2020 press report, Swiss news agencies at the time said a "splinter group" of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) had claimed responsibility, but other media reports said the group denied involvement. The PFLP-GC, which according to some sources claimed responsibility for the attack, was not a splinter of the PLO. Rather, it split from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and subsequently affiliated to the PLO.
The Swiss investigating judge, Robert Akeret, personally handed his 165-page report to the federal attorney-general, Hans Walder. According to press coverage of this report, the bombing was committed by "two members" of the PLO. The PLO is a federation of affiliate bodies, and does not have individual members.
A barometric-triggered bomb had been used. On the same day, another bomb exploded aboard an Austrian Airlines Vienna-bound Caravelle after takeoff from Frankfurt. The Caravelle landed safely.[citation needed]
The Swiss Federal Criminal Police (German: Bundeskriminalpolizei, French: Police judiciaire fédérale, Italian: Polizia giudiziaria federale) suspected Sufian Radi Kaddoumi and Badawi Mousa Jawher as the responsible terrorists, but it was impossible to arrest them. The investigations were closed in November 2000. Official investigations and proceedings against two other Palestinians, Yaser Qasem and Issa Abu Toboul, were in the Federal Republic of Germany already halted in 1970 despite their alleged complicity. Both were deported.
(Start of conversation with Zurich ATC. Note: conversation of the recording begins following the initial explosion.)
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Swissair Flight 330
Swissair Flight 330 (SR330/SWR330) was a regularly scheduled flight from Zurich Airport in Kloten, Switzerland, to Hong Kong with a planned stopover in Tel Aviv, Israel. On 21 February 1970, a bomb exploded soon after takeoff, causing the plane to crash, killing all 47 passengers and crew. No one was ever charged over the attack, but some sources attribute it to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP–GC).
On 21 February 1970, HB-ICD – a Convair CV-990 Coronado jet named "Baselland" – was flying on the route with 38 passengers and nine crew members. A bomb detonated in the aft cargo compartment of the aircraft about nine minutes after take-off, during the ascent on a southerly course, at approximately 12:15 UTC in the area of Lucerne north of the St. Gotthard Pass. The crew tried to turn the plane around and attempt an emergency landing at Zurich, but had difficulty seeing the instruments due to smoke in the cockpit. The aircraft deviated more and more to the west, and crashed a short time later in a wooded area at Würenlingen near Zurich, Switzerland, due to loss of electrical power. All aboard the aircraft were killed.
A government air inspector was flown to the scene in a helicopter. He was followed shortly afterward by a team of 50 investigators. The police said that a woman handed in a 9-mm pistol found at the scene of the crash immediately after the disaster. Some of the wreckage, including pieces of cloth, was strung out on the tops and branches of trees.
Sabotage was immediately suspected. A possible motive was revenge against Switzerland for three Palestinians who had been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment by a Swiss court. According to a 2020 press report, Swiss news agencies at the time said a "splinter group" of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) had claimed responsibility, but other media reports said the group denied involvement. The PFLP-GC, which according to some sources claimed responsibility for the attack, was not a splinter of the PLO. Rather, it split from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and subsequently affiliated to the PLO.
The Swiss investigating judge, Robert Akeret, personally handed his 165-page report to the federal attorney-general, Hans Walder. According to press coverage of this report, the bombing was committed by "two members" of the PLO. The PLO is a federation of affiliate bodies, and does not have individual members.
A barometric-triggered bomb had been used. On the same day, another bomb exploded aboard an Austrian Airlines Vienna-bound Caravelle after takeoff from Frankfurt. The Caravelle landed safely.[citation needed]
The Swiss Federal Criminal Police (German: Bundeskriminalpolizei, French: Police judiciaire fédérale, Italian: Polizia giudiziaria federale) suspected Sufian Radi Kaddoumi and Badawi Mousa Jawher as the responsible terrorists, but it was impossible to arrest them. The investigations were closed in November 2000. Official investigations and proceedings against two other Palestinians, Yaser Qasem and Issa Abu Toboul, were in the Federal Republic of Germany already halted in 1970 despite their alleged complicity. Both were deported.
(Start of conversation with Zurich ATC. Note: conversation of the recording begins following the initial explosion.)