Missile caused 1980 plane crash: Italian court
| ROME
Italy's top criminal court has ruled there is "abundantly" clear evidence that a straymissile聽caused聽an Italian passenger jet to聽crash聽into the Mediterranean Sea in聽1980, killing all 81 people aboard.
Quoting from the Rome ruling on Monday, the Italian news agency LaPresse said the court upheld a Palermo appeals ruling that Italian radar systems didn't adequately protect the skies and Italy must compensate the victims' families.
What聽caused聽the Itavia DC-9 to聽crash聽during a flight from Bologna to Palermo has been one of Italy's enduring mysteries.
Some theorized a bomb exploded. Others contended the jet was caught in the crossfire of a military aerial dogfight, with a Libyan聽plane聽possibly the target. French, U.S. and NATO officials have denied military activity in the skies that night.
