Missile caused 1980 plane crash: Italian court
Missile caused 1980 plane crash: 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.
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.