Rescuers probe wreckage of Dag's
plane after mystery-shrouded crash.
I took my doctor's advice!
Now our
constipation
worries are over!
HOW did
DAG HAMMARSKJOLD
DIE?
A mystery,
says the United Nations; not so,
replies a European journalist
who claims to have uncovered a
sensational plot that led
to world-shaking tragedy
By JOHN KENT
ON sept. 17, 1961, a DC-6B carrying United
Nations Secretary General Dag Hammar
skjold on a peace mission in the Congo crashed
near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia.
There were no survivors.
A UN commission began a lengthy investigation, but its
official" report was inconclusive. The commission did not
rule out the possibility that Hammarskjold's plane had been
sabotaged or attacked by enemy forces and it left some
major questions unanswered.
For example, why did the Swedish pilot, after saying he
would land at Ndola in a few minutes, suddenly veer away?
Why did he fail to pick up altitude on his westward course
when he knew he was dangerously low?
A Swedish journalist, Teddy Lindstrom, says he has
uncovered sensational answers to these mysteries. How he
got them is a cloak-and-dagger story in itself that begins
with a tip from a French officer in the Katanganese army.
"Hammarskjold's death was no accident," the Frenchman
said. "He was the victim of a kidnap plot." And then he
gave Lindstrom the name of a Belgian already implicated
in the murder of Congo leader Patrice Lumumba.
"The Belgian is hiding in Europe," the informant said.
"I doubt you will find him."
It took months of trailing, but Lindstrom found his man
hiding in terror in a villa on Lake Geneva, Switzerland.
Here is the story the fugitive told Lindstrom:
A group of European businessmen wanted United Nations
troops withdrawn from the war-torn Congo because they
were preventing Katanga province from seceding from the
new African nation. With the UN gone, Katanga could easily
achieve independence and the Europeans could win control
of its vast natural resources.
The Europeans devised a plan to kidnap Hammarskjold.
The ransom : withdrawal of UN troops. It was simple to hire
a gunman a former lieutenant in the Belgian army and
get him aboard. Hammarskjold's plane left Leopoldville just
after 5 p.m. (Sept. 16). There was a great deal of confusion,
and it was then the man slipped aboard.
i
"4
But something went wrong with the plan. Nobody can
be sure what, but the Belgian believes this happened:
The gunman slipped into the cockpit and leveled a pistol
at the pilot. He ordered the crew to fly to Kolwezi, where
the Europeans would seize Hammarskjold as a hostage. The
crew seemingly complied, and about 10 p.m. the pilot told
a control tower below that airport lights were in sight.
The hijacker assumed this was the Kolwezi tower, but he
had been tricked. The pilot had followed a confusing course
and was in contact with his original destination, Ndola.
According to the Belgian soldier of fortune interviewed
by Lindstrom, something in the control tower's landing
instructions must have tipped the hijacker to the pilot's
deception. The plane soared low over the tower. Then radio
contact was broken, and the plane turned west.
Hours latkr, a search party came upon the wreckage.
Hammarskjold had been thrown from the wreckage
and had lived for a few hours. An American UN employee
was still alive but died before telling what happened.
"Hammarskjold's death was an accident," the Belgian
told Lindstrom. "It was never our intention to kill him. We
think the pilot tried to throw our gunman off balance by
making a sudden steep dive. But he was unexpectedly low
and crashed into the jungle."
The official UN report says 16 bodies were found in the
wreckage, all crew members or UN personnel. Original
reports from the scene mentioned 17 bodies. Was there a
17th passenger, an unaccountable mystery passenger?
The UN report concedes that security precautions at
Leopoldville were lax, and it calls the plane's dangerously
low altitude an "abnormal fact." On no other pertinent
points, however, does it agree with Lindstrom's story.
Yet both French and Swiss secret agents reportedly have
confirmed that the DC-6B was hijacked, and Paris sources
say the former French commander of the Katanganese army,
a Major FauUiues, is writing a book which will substantiate
this version of the tragedy.
How did Hammarskjold die? It's a question without a
definite answer to this day but a question that may shake
the Western world in the near future.
I - I "V
We asked thousands of doctors,
"Do you ever recommend Milk
of Magnesia?" The overwhelming
majority replied: "Yes!" You see,
Phillips' Milk of Magnesia is both
a gentle laxative mill a soothing
antacid. It not only relieves con
stipation thoroughly
and comfortably; it
also relieves accom
panying acid indi
gestion. No single
purpose laxative
can offer you
such complete yet
comfortable relief.
Ask your doctorl
REGULAR OR
MINT-FLAVORED
BE RID OF
CORNS BY
Wednesday
PHILUPS f !
MILK OF k
MAGNESIA ;
UCC-1AUUM !,
i
or money
back from
Only Blue Jay
can make this
3-day guarantee
Relieve pain fast,
t
w
be rid of corns with Blue Jay.
Family Weekly, July I, mi