RESCUERS yesterday searched for bodies in the submerged wreckage of a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 that ran out of fuel and crashed off the Comoros Islands, killing up to 123 people. Fifty two others survived.
Witnesses said divers had worked through the night after the plane broke into three pieces just off the shoreline of the main island of the Indian Ocean archipelago on Saturday. A special team of highly trained South African divers was travelling to take part in the search yesterday.
At least 67 people were known to have died and 56 were missing and feared dead from the total of 175 passengers and crew.
An African television cameraman, Mr Mohamed Amin (53), was among the passengers who died. Mr Amin, of Reuters Television, won acclaim for bringing Ethiopia's 1984 famine to the eyes of the world. He visited Ireland at the end of 1993, when he met the President, Mrs Robinson, and appeared on the Gay Byrne Show.
Fifty two people on board flight ET 961 survived, according to Ethiopian Airlines' main office in Addis Ababa. Two of the hijackers were among the survivors. Some managed to swim to shore only 500 metres away, while others bobbed in azure waters as sunbathing tourists rushed off a palm fringed beach to help.
Earlier, the pilot of the plane said the three men who tried to divert the craft to Australia wanted to "make history".
Their motives were unknown, but the plan went wrong as the plane, bound from Addis Ababa to Abidjan, and due to have stopped in Nairobi, ran out of fuel some 25 km short of the airport at Moroni, capital of the four island chain.
"We have now established the identity of the two hijackers who are in detention in the Comoros. They are Ethiopian," the Ethiopian Airlines general manager, Mr Ahmed Kello, said. The fate and nationality of the third were unknown.
One hijacker was reported to have been armed with an axe. Another wielded a fire extinguisher. The third had what he said was a bomb in one hand and a whiskey bottle in the other.
Among the survivors was the Ethiopian pilot, Mr Leul Abate (42), who suffered head injuries.
Mr Leul said one hijacker was wielding a small axe, apparently one kept in the plane for use in emergencies. A second carried a small fire extinguisher from the plane, wielding it as a weapon.
The third said he had a bomb in one hand, although Mr Leul could not identify the object as such. In his other hand was a bottle of whisky.