The Nome Nugget

Pan Am Jetliner Seized Over Mexico
. . . Lands In Havana With 81 Aboard

NEW YORK (AP) - A Pan American World Airways DC8 jet airliner was hijacked over Mexico today and forced to fly to Cuba with at least 81 persons captive aboard it. It landed safely in Havana in mid-afternoon.

American military planes failed in an attempt to overtake and divert it on its flight to Havana. Two Air Force and two Navy jet fighters took off from Florida bases in a vain attempt to intercept the airliner. A Pentagon spokesman in Washington emphasized there was no idea of shooting at the airliner. Instead, it was planned to track it and perhaps divert it.

Although three prior hijackings of American commercial airliners since May 1 had led to a federal authorization for arming aircraft crews, Pan American said the crew of the $5 million jetliner was unarmed.

Among passengers listed on the Pan American flight from Houston, Tex., to Panama City, was the Foreign Minister of Colombia. Julio Cesar Turbay, his wife and an entourage of aides. He was returning from an official visit to Mexico.

Turbay has been one of Fidel Castro's most vehement South American critics. His presence aboard the airliner could well stir up an international furor.

The White House said a demand had been dispatched through channels to the Cuban government for immediate return of the jet, its passengers and crew.

Castro still holds an Eastern Airlines propjet Electra hijacked July 24, although passengers and crew were released after being held overnight.

The Pan American ship took off from Houston, Tex., and was bound for Panama City with stops at Mexico City, Guatemala City and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Pan American here was not sure whether there were 72 or 76 passengers aboard the plane.

There were 9 crew members heading the plane.

Angered Senators Want "Death Penalty" For Plane Hijackers

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senators angered by today's hijacking of another American plane demanded in the Senate tough new laws to declare plane seizures an act of piracy punishable by death.

Sen. Warren Magnuson, (D-Wash.), Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, obtained a suspension of Senate rules to permit immediate consideration of a bill proposing a mandatory life sentence for plane hijackings.

Magnuson promptly proposed an amendment to provide a "mandatory death penalty."

The swift consideration of the measure had the joint blessing of Sens. Mike Mansfield and Everett Dirksen, the Democratic and Republican leaders.

Sen. Mike Monroney, the bill's actual floor manager, told the Senate it may be that the Cuban government had nothing to do with the latest seizure.

If that is the case, he said, Cuba could prove it easily by jailing the "pirates" who seized the Pan American jet and turning them over to the United States for trial.