DATE=5/23/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SAF / PLANE / NUCLEAR (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-262694
BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA
DATELINE=JOHANNESBURG
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO:  A leading South African newspaper has reported 
that there may have been a nuclear bomb aboard a South 
African airliner that crashed mysteriously into the 
sea off Mauritius 13 years ago, killing all 159 people 
on board.   V-O-A Correspondent Alex Belida reports 
from Johannesburg.

TEXT:  The Afrikaans-language daily "Beeld" says the 
presence of a nuclear bomb on board the 747 jumbo jet 
is revealed in the transcript of newly-deciphered 
conversations recorded on the aircraft's cockpit voice 
recorder.

The transcript quotes the pilot as telling his co-
pilot and flight engineer that the bomb was the 
property of the then white-minority South African 
government and that its presence on the plane was a 
secret.  The document indicates the other crewmembers 
were stunned.  One of them is quoted as saying, "What 
madness" and "It is really frightening what could 
happen."  

"Beeld" says it is  not  clear from the transcript 
whether the device was assembled or whether the 
components were being transported separately. 

The plane was on a flight from Taipei to Johannesburg 
when it crashed into the Indian Ocean in 1987.  
Previous inquiries have found  no  one was to blame 
for the accident.  But South African civil aviation 
authorities confirmed last week that they were 
examining new evidence suggesting there was what they 
termed "deadly cargo" on the plane.

There have been other published reports claiming there 
were dangerous chemicals on board, possibly including 
ingredients for making rocket fuel.

The renewed interest in the 13-year-old case has 
prompted the opposition United Democratic Movement 
party in South Africa to call for a new, high-level 
investigation by the government.

South African Transport Minister Dullah Omar is 
reportedly prepared to order a new probe into the 
disaster.  But Mr. Omar's spokesman says civil 
aviation authorities first need to evaluate the 
authenticity of the new cockpit transcript. 

South Africa's former white-minority government is 
known to have developed a nuclear capability but all 
of the devices it manufactured are said to have been 
dismantled.  (Signed)

NEB/BEL/JWH/KBK



23-May-2000 10:39 AM EDT (23-May-2000 1439 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.