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January 31, 2004

Another Wave Of Terror Hijacking Threats

The bad news is that, once again, there is "specific and credible" information that terrorists -- possibly linked to al Qaeda -- want to hijack foreign flag passenger aircraft and crash them into targets inside the United States. The good news, if it can be called that, is that the threats don't appear as serious as they were over the holidays. Over a three week period starting around Christmas, 15 flights headed for the US from other countries were canceled. Dozens of other flights were delayed as authorities searched passengers, passenger lists and luggage for possible hazards.

Recovery teams on frozen Lake Erie Friday raised the wrecked fuselage of a Cessna 208 near Pelee Island, with the bodies of all ten victims still inside the aircraft. The Caravan went down in bad weather on January 17th, as it was returning a group of hunters from the island to Windsor (ON). All but one of the passengers aboard the flight, operated by Georgian Express, were from Ontario. They were identified as Fred Freitas, 39, and Larry Janik, 49, both of Kingsville; Ted Reeve, 54, Tom Reeve, 50, and Robert Brisco, 47, all of Chatham; Ronald Spencler, 54, and Walter Sadowski, 49, both of Windsor, and Jim Allen, 52, of Mitchell's Bay.