—l^xasA&Mf^
The tsattalion
bl. 82 No. 199 GSPS 045360 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, September 2, 1986
>n Nissa-
10% dtj.
-Nissa
>oviet passenger ship sinks after collision
nted as
MOSCOW (AF) — A (il-year-old
iviet ship bi^ enough to carry at
ast 870 passengers collided with a
eighter at night in the Black Sea
Id sank with a loss of lives, officials
id Monday. They did not give a
snaky figure.
|Foreign radio monitors said thev
CUStOFTF ( * 1 not * iear a distress signal aftei
® Be collision between the passenger
775*15(1|I ip and Soviet freighter Sunday
» '■t Sean h and i est uc o|>< i .ttt< )iis t < m
tued Monday night, about 20
mrs after the ship went down,
OCi r
ocurve)
NSES
LENSE
according to officials in the Black
Sea ports of Odessa and Novoros-
sivsk.
A Naval Ministry official said by
telephone late Monday that the
freighter remained afloat. He would
not answer other questions.
Soviet media carried only a brief
statement from the Communist
Party Central Committee and Soviet
government, ft was the second sink
ing of a Soviet passenger liner in
seven months.
1 he official announcement, dis
tributed bv the lass news agency.
said only that the 17,053-ton Admi
ral Nakhimov collided with a cargo
ship not far f rom Novorossiysk and
sank on the night of Aug. 31.
“Rescue measures have been
taken," the official news agency said.
“T he necessary assistance is ren
dered to those affected. There has
been loss of life.”
It did not say how many people
were aboard, how many were dead,
if any foreigners were among the
passengers or what route the ship
was following.
Lloyd's Registry of Ships, pub
lished in London, savs the ship had
berths for 870 passengers. A Soviet
citizen who sailed on it in 1971 said
many other fourth-class passengers
customarily slept on the uppermost
of its f our decks.
An official of the Black Sea fleet
in Novorossiysk, reached by tele
phone from Moscow, said that
whether the ship went down late
Sunday night or very early Monday
still was not known. That indicated it
sank quickly.
In Turkey, across the Black Sea,
none of the major radio stations
monitoring maritime frequencies
along the coast reported hearing an
SOS from the Admiral Nakhimov.
All the monitors said they could
pick up Novorossiysk, about 60 miles
southeast of the Crimean Peninsula.
The official in Novorossiysk, who
did not give his name, also refused
to say how many people were aboard
the Admiral Nakhimov or how many
people were killed.
He said the rescue operation con
tinued at 7 p.m. Moscow time, in
volving “many" men and ships, but
he would not be more specific.
A shipping official in Odessa, the
liner’s home port, also said by tele
phone that rescue work continued.
He would not discuss the accident
and hung up when asked how many
lives were lost.
l ass said a government commis
sion was appointed to investigate the
collision and sinking, headed by
First Deputy Premier Geidar A. Al
iev. a member of the party’s ruling
Politburo. Choice of Aliev as com
mission chairman indicated the se
riousness of the accident.
’lane’s position
jnknown when
rash occurred
JRDA'I
CERRITOS, Calif. (AP) — Air
iffic controllers likelv did not
tow the position of a small airplane
it collided with a jetliner, killing
167 people on the planes and leav-
ig 10 missing and feared dead on
je ground, officials said Monday.
Ilie single-engine Piper Archer
as not in contact with the control
directing air traf fic near Los An-
E101C At least 27
77840 "on jet were
Americans
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A U.S.
[Embassy official said Mondas
that at least 27 Americans, most
of them returning f rom a holiday
[on Baja California, were aboard
I the Aeromexico jet that collided
[with a small plane and crashed
j neat Los Angeles, killing every
one aboard.
A San Antonio couple, Stanley
Stein, a real estate developer, and
his wife, Sandy Stein, a real estate
broker, were among the con
firmed dead.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for
the Mexican Ait line Pilots’ Asso
ciation said the collision may have
been caused by the “tremendous
congestion” of air traffic in
Southern California.
Mexican pilots regard the Ti-
juana-to-Los Angeles route, the
last leg of Aeromexico’s Flight
489, as especially risky because so
many amateur pilots ily on week
ends, spokesman, Capt. Arnoldo
Reyes said.
A U.S. Embassy official said
the consulate in Mexico City iden
tified 25 passengers who boarded
at Loreto as Americans. Two
other Americans boarded at Ti
juana, the of ficial said.
Authorities were trying to de-
See Victims, page 12
ecial
oon and
off peril
846-15$
geles International Airport, where
the Sunday crash occurred, said
John Lauber, a National Transpor
tation Safety Board supervisor.
Authorities said 64 people, in
cluding at least 27 Americans, were
aboard Aeromexico Flight 498, a
DC-9 from Mexico City that was on
its landing approach to Los Angeles,
and three people were in the Piper
when the planes collided a few min
utes before noon Sunday.
Lauber, speaking at a news con
ference, said the light plane had a
transponder, a device that could
broadcast its position, but “we don’t
know if the transponder was in fact
working.”
He said controllers could have de
tected transponder signals given off
by the small plane, but “it seems un
likely they knew eitfier the position
or the altitude of the small plane.”
“Whether or not the controllers
saw it . . . that’s a question,” Lauber
said.
He said paint scrapes found on
the Aeromexico DC-9’s horizontal
stabilizer “seem to match at this
point the paint scheme used on the
smaller aircraft.”
Asked if that indicated the smaller
plane collided with the rear of the
|et, Lauber said, “That looks like it
might be a reasonable interpreta
tion.”
The small plane’s pilot “was not in
contact with the proper terminal,”
Lauber said. He did not say whether
the plane might have been in contact
with other controllers.
The jetliner had received clear
ance to descend from 7,000 feet to
6,000 feet just before the collision,
he said.
Officials from the safety board’s
local office have requested drug tests
on a controller directing traffic at
the time of the accident, but the re
quest was still pending, said Lauber.
Streets, homes and trees in a six-
by eight-block section of an upper-
middle-class neighborhood were lit
tered with steel, flesh, charred cars,
luggage and ashes by Los Angeles
See Crash, page 12
Photo by Tom Ownbey
Head Yell Leader Marty Holmes leads the crowd in “The Spirit of Aggieland” during All University Night, which was held Monday at Kyle Field.
Aggies unite at All-University Night
By Olivier Uyttebrouck
Suitt Writer
The air at Kyle Field was thick
with congratulations Monday
night for Texas A&M’s athletic
triumphs, almost as thick as the
humidity, as A&M paraded some
of its luminaries for All-Univer
sity Night, the school’s traditional
first-day yell practice.
Rain threatened. And threat
ened. And threatened — but
never came down, in spite of all
the chanting.
Head Yell Leader Marty
Holmes humored the crowd with
traditional jokes and they replied
with traditional whoops, gestures
and hisses. Example:
“Before 1964, women weren’t
allowed at A&M," Holmes said to
a hissing crowd. “Before that, we
asked the women to come in on
the trains.” The whoops re
sounded.
The crowd was introduced to
the new freshmen football play
ers and the women shouted their
approval for the most attractive
men. But the biggest cheers went
to a guy who tripped over the
edge of the track.
Holmes also introduced the
women’s volleyball team.
Dr. John Koldus, vice presi
dent for student services, wel
comed back the students and re
newed an offer he made earlier at
Fish Camp to buy lunch for any
one who stops him on campqs
and introduces himself.
Head Football Coach Jackie
Sherrill presented an official
football jersey to Holmes and a
Twelf th Man towel to Koldus.
As with many traditions, All-U
Night has an obscure origin diffi
cult to trace to a particular year.
Retired Lt. Gen. Ormond Sim
pson says A&M didn’t have an
All-U Night back in 1936, the
year he graduated.
In Simpson’s college days,
when all 4,000 students were in
the Corps of Cadets, there was
little need for such a unifying
exercise.
Besides, yell practice was a
nightly event anyway, Simpson
recalls. Following the evening
meal, cadets would congregate at
the YMCA Building.
The familiar stance yell leaders
strike today, with their hands on
their upper arms and the right
foot hiked up behind the left
knee, is intended to recall the
days when yell leaders climbed up
and down the narrow steps of the
YMCA, rolling up their shirt
sleeves, Simpson says.
At least 44 die on Texas highways
Deaths mar holiday weekend
Registration Deadlines Sent. 2-S
Tuesday
Pavilion
Late registration
8-12.1-5
Wednesday
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Late registration
8-12.1-5
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8-12.1-5
Friday*
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•Late registration ends Friday
(AP) Labor Day weekend for most
Texans meant fun and relaxation
before returning to work and school
today, but the holiday was grim on
Texas highways, where at least 44
people died in traffic accidents.
The fatality count continued to
climb while the Labor Day weekend
drew to a close, the Department of
Public Safety said.
Earlier, state officials warned that
the final death count could exceed
the DPS’ original prediction of 43
deaths for the 78-hour period ended
at midnight Monday.
Traffic accidents killed 52 people
over the Labor Day weekend last
year in Texas.
DPS spokesman David Wells ear
lier said, “We’re going to have a high
volume of return traffic and the pos
sibility of inclement weather makes it
likely we wall exceed the estimate.”
The Department of Public Safety
feared its original prediction of 43
deaths would he surpassed by mid
night.
T he threat of rain marred a con
cert and fireworks show for a crowd
of 100,000 people Sunday night
along the banks of the Trinity River
in Dallas.
T he crowd had
singer Ray Wylie
come to hear
Hubbard and
watch the fireworks display, which
was forced to go off an hour late.
“We had $30,000 worth of fire
works,” show spokeswoman Mary
Brown said. “And when it started to
drizzle we knew we couldn’t afford
to do it tomorrow or next week. So
we moved it up to 8:30.”
T he threat of rain hung over
Texas on Monday as cloudy skies
and scattered showers and thunder
storms were the dominant weather
feature.
Temperatures were unseasonably
cool, with most afternoon readings
in the 60s and 70s.
Labor Day also was the first day
that 19- and 20-year-old Texans
were not able to drink legally.
A state law raising the drinking
age from 19 to 21 went into ef fect at
12:01 a.m., forcing many young
people to take their last legal drink
Sunday night.
The state’s major league baseball
fans, enthralled by the presence of
the Houston Astros and the Texas
Rangers in the pennant chase, had
to settle for radio broadcasts and
telecasts of their favorite teams.
Soviets plan to hold reporter for 10 days
fdAl 1
liver t*
11
MOSCOW (AP) — The wife of
American reporter Nicholas Dani-
■lolTsaid Monday that Soviet authori-
■ties plan to keep him in jail for a 10-
■day investigation before deciding
whether to release him or charge
him with spying.
Ruth Daniloff called the investiga
tion “a complete farce” and said she
feared her husband would be put on
trial.
Mortimer B. Zuckerman, chair
man of U.S. News & World Report,
the weekly magazine that employs
Daniloff, called the jailing “a phony
arrest based on contrived circum
stances.”
Zuckerman flew here Monday
front Washington and said he would
meet with senior Soviet officials to
day to press for release of the 52-
year-old newsman.
Danilof f has told his wife he was
jumped by eight KGB agents Satur
day after meeting a Soviet acquaint
ance who gave him a package later
found to contain two maps marked
“top secret” and photographs of So
viet military installations.
Daniloff’s wife and the couple’s
16-year-old son, Caleb, spent about
an hour with him Monday in an an
nex of east Moscow’s Lefortovo
Prison.
U.S. Consul General Roger Daley
accompanied them to Lefortovo but
was not present for the meeting with
Daniloff.
Daniloff was interrogated for four
hours Saturday in Lefortovo. His
wife said he was questioned again
Monday, but she gave, no details.
Outside the prison, Mrs. Daniloff
told reporters her husband “will be
held for 10 days. . . . (Then) they will
decide whether they are going to re
lease him or charge him.”
She said both Daniloff and KGB
investigator Valery D. Sergodeyev
mentioned the time limit. Whether
the 10 days would be counted from
his arrest Saturday was not clear, she
said.
“I am very pessimistic because,
you know, they found this incrimi
nating information that was planted
on him, so the investigation itself is a
complete farce,” Mrs. Daniloff said.
She said once the investigation is
over, “I think they will probably put
him on trial. Unless something hap
pens in between.”
Daniloff has suggested through
his wife that his detention is a Soviet
response to the Aug. 23 arrest in
New York of Gennady F. Zakharov,
a Soviet United Nations’ employee
chargedwith trying to buy U.S. se
crets. Zakharov, who has no diplo
matic: immunity, is being held with
out bail.
Mrs. Daniloff said her husband
was “very subdued” Monday but
“greatly heartened when I told him
about the kind of press coverage he
was getting.” s
“He was concerned about being
forgotten, and I said, ‘Well, it’s a big
story.’ And he said, ‘You know it’s a
big story today, but maybe in two
months time it will no longer be such
a big stoic,' ” she reported.
She said he told her that KGB
photographers were present at his
arrest, and also when the package
was opened at Lefortovo.
Daniloff is allowed to exercise
once a day in what she called “a sort
of cage” on the prison roof and
otherwise spends his time reading a
Russian-language collection of
works by French author Victor
Hugo, she said.
With Daniloff in the cell is “this
character, (Soviet) physicist person,”
she went on. ‘‘I think he (Daniloff)
understands very well the role of this
gentleman in the cell with him.”
Mrs. Daniloff said she did not ex
pect to see her husband again until
at least the end of the week.
Budget bill
approved
by Senate
AUSTIN (AP) — The Senate
on Monday approved a bill that
would allow the governor and
Legislative Budget Board to
make changes in the state budget
while the Legislature is not in ses
sion.
The measure would authorize
the governor — if the governor
thought an emergency existed —
to propose changes in the budget.
The budget board, made up of
five senators and five House
members, would hold a public
hearing to approve, reject or
modify the governor’s proposal.