Terrorism: The Voyage of The Achille Lauro

Achille Lauro A Mediterranean pleasure cruise turns into a 52-hour nightmare at sea

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But the hijackers' murderous gambit did not succeed. Syria refused to allow the Achille Lauro to enter its territorial waters, as did Cyprus; no government wanted to borrow trouble by becoming unnecessarily involved. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, the ship raised anchor and sailed away from the Syrian coastline. Perhaps fearful of an attack, a hijacker who identified himself as the squad's leader and called himself Omar warned, "We will hit any ship, any plane that tries to approach us." Throughout the night, Captain De Rosa sent , messages asking would-be rescuers to hold off. "Please do not attempt anything against my ship," he urged. "Everyone is all right, and we will soon be freed."

By 6 a.m. Wednesday, the Achille Lauro was anchored 15 miles off Port Said, and the Egyptian Foreign Ministry was moving swiftly to try to resolve the crisis. Mohammed Abbas Zaidan, secretary-general of the P.L.F., arrived from Tunis to join the discussions. Better known as Abul Abbas, he tried to negotiate a settlement and clarify the hijackers' demands. Abul Abbas' precise role in the planning of the P.L.F. raid that apparently misfired is not known, but there was little doubt that he exercised considerable influence over the hijackers. When he addressed the gunmen aboard the ship, they replied, "Commander, we are happy to hear your voice." Abul Abbas then told the hijackers that if they surrendered, the Egyptians would guarantee them safe passage out of the country. He instructed them to prepare to release the ship, and they answered, "We shall obey." Shortly before dusk Wednesday, the four gunmen came ashore aboard a squat, battered tugboat of the Suez Canal Authority. Journalists at the entrance of the harbor caught a glimpse of the hijackers as they passed. Then they disappeared, not to resurface until they landed in Sicily some 30 hours later.

In New York, Lisa and Ilsa Klinghoffer had been waiting for two days for news of their parents. Finally, on Wednesday, they broke out champagne for relatives and friends after being told by the State Department that Marilyn and Leon, along with the other passengers, were safe. The celebration was still going on a couple of hours later when the family received another telephone call, raising grave new doubts. This time the State Department said it was uncertain whether Leon Klinghoffer was alive or dead.

The U.S. had heard reports as early as Tuesday afternoon that an American aboard the Achille Lauro had been killed. On Thursday evening, after more than 48 hours of conflicting rumors, the State Department ordered the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt, Nicholas Veliotes, to visit the Achille Lauro and determine the fate of the Americans aboard. Accompanied by envoys from Italy, Austria and West Germany, the ambassador was taken to the ship by tugboat about midnight. After a quick investigation, he called his embassy in Cairo over a ship-to-shore radio and gave his colleagues some instructions. "Leon Klinghoffer is dead," he announced grimly. "He was murdered by the terrorists off Tartus. The terrorists then showed the captain the passport of Mildred Hodes and said, 'O.K., but you tell those Syrians that we've killed two.' They then kept a gun on them constantly and anyone else near the radio and threatened to kill anyone who told the truth."

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