The Herald from Jasper, Indiana • Page 3

68 are dead in crash and explosion of DC9 Rv Wfl I A The Herald, Tuesday, April 5, 1977 Pages By WILLIAM COTTERELL NEW HOPE, Ga. (UPI) A Southern Airways DC9, its apparently clogged by violent hail that smashed windows in the plane, glided down onto a two-lane 18, of Wilmington, Dei. was sitting with my buddy next to me and a girlfriend was next to him. We all held Jack Barker, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, said Monday, crushing cars the pilot of the Southern and biulcungs before in a 294, bound from HuntsviUe, to rain of fire, metal and victims. Sixty-eight persons died and 27 others were injured, The victims on the ground apparently never knew what hit them.

the Atlanta Air Traffic Control Center and reported he had a windshield failure and one engine out. A minute later he called back to report that his second engine had Those in the plane were obliged to sit and wait while the big plane drifted down from 15,000 feet, as the pilot, Capt. William W. McKenzie, 54, Of LaPlace, searched frantically for a place to land. Sally Furniss and her husband, who were among the 85 passengers and crewmen aboard the Southern flight, turned in their seats and kissed when they realized the plane was going down.

Mrs. Furniss, 37, of Virginia Beach, survived, but her husband died in the crash. we could do was hold said Frederick Clemens, Barker said the pilot first radioed that he would try to bring the plane into Dobbins Air Force Base, on the outskirts of Atlanta, but then quickly realized he make it. The pilot asked what air field was closest to him and was told it was CartersviUe, but again he said he make it, and radioed he was going to set it down on the road. During the tense radio messages McKenzie did not explain what sort of windshield failure he had encountered, birt William Ayton, FAA at the crash site, Hospital attendants rush a victim of the Southern Airways DC9 crash Monday afternoon to emergency room treatment in Marietta, Ga.

(UPI said investigators had found evidence that hail had penetrated the windshield. Two stewardesses, the only members of the four man crew to survive, said the hail broke numerous windows in the plane. A Southern spokesman said A tornado cut a path through the Smithfield Estates subdivision of Monday, Alabama toll is 21 killing at least 18 persons. More than 40 homes in the subdivision were destroyed. (UPI Photo) 18 die as tornado destroys suburb By GARY SEASE BIRMINGHAM, Ala.

(UPI) Albert Peoples says the chairs were jumping about three feet off the so he fell down and covered his head with his arms. He survived a tornado that nearly wiped out his subdivision Monday and killed 21 persons in north Alabama. I heard it coming, I might be in one of than he said as a convoy of the emergency vehicles streamed out of Smithfield Estates with sirens screaming. Peoples, 48, was one of the few persons in the predominantly black neighborhood whose home was not destroyed. More than 40 houses lay in shambles and rescue workers continued to sift through the rubble today searching for additional bodies.

At least 18 persons were killed in the north Birmingham suburb. Two others were fatally injured in the nearby suburb of Fultondale and an Ashville woman died in a twister in adjoining St. Clair CJounty. Nearly 100 persons were taken to area hospitals and about 35 were admitted. Authorities said the death toll in Smithfield Estates would rise as the debris was cleared.

One man, about 25 years old, lay dead in the drizzling rain. His body was covered with the headboard and mattress of a bed, apparently where he made a futile attempt to shelter himself from the twister. Survivors, dazed by the of virtually every home flattened in an area several blocks wide, wandered through the streets looking for loved ones and personal belongings. Shock registered on the face of many homeowners who left work and returned to Smithfield Estates only to find their houses ripped into mounds of masonry and lumber. At Cooper Green Hospital a temporary morgue was set up and persons whose relatives could not be accounted for milled about in MEN The Place For The GREAT SELECTION PRICE ON YOUR NEW VESTED SUIT IS MEN'S WEAR IN JASPER'S 3-D SHOPPING CENTER Open Wed.

till 6 Sundays 12-5 and here come a jet said Mary Clayton, who was working in her yard when the plane dropped out of the turbulent Spring skies at 4:20 p.m. EST. was breaking apart all down was throwing pieces up in the air and they were I The one that 1 throws nothing Tuesday the plane apparently lost power because the hail had been sucked into the jets. indications are that the storm caused the' ingestion of the spokesman said. The huge ship, a stretched DC9, cut a 300-foot long path of death the road, and destruction as it settled onto the highway in the little town of New Hope.

A car and a truck were mashed flat, and telephone poles and trees fell before the careening plane, which finally smashed into a grocery and disintegrated in a nearby woods. Four or five persons on the ground were believed killed, but searchers were still sifting through the wreckage today for other possible victims. sounded like a tornado and I screamed for everyone to run, and 1 looked back down the highway I salads, cakes, purees, drinks, chops ice, cereals, flour, and morel SEE Ask for domonstrotion WAGNER'S FOOD STORE S07 Soliga 8th 1 9th St. Jasper Ph. 482-5115 farm WE HAVE LISTINGS For FARMS, LOTS and ACREAGE CALL HOFFMAN MULLEN REALTORS 2 the lobby.

Detectives worked to identify the 18 bodies brought there. One woman, tears streaming down her face, refused to look at the victims to try to locate a missing relative. Hie Red Ooss late Monday reported three children missing had been foiaid and were unharmed. It also said blood drives are in progress today, though the situation was not critical. may need some specific types of Wood and setting up units for a Red Cross official said.

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