22 - 28 March 2001
Issue No.526
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 22 - 28 March 2001 Issue No.526 |
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Long ride home
PASSENGERS of the ill-fated Vnukovo Airlines flight were counting their blessings last Saturday when they finally returned to Russia after a two-day ordeal that left three people dead and the already marginalised Chechen cause worse for the wear. Thirty minutes into last Thursday's Istanbul-Moscow flight, the plane momentarily dipped some 400 metres while Chechen hijackers brandishing knives and seeking to draw attention to the Chechen plight seized control of the cockpit. Turkey, home to an estimated 20,000 Chechens, has long been criticised by Moscow for aiding rebels in the breakaway republic of Chechnya, where the population is predominantly Muslim.The plane was eventually diverted to the Saudi Arabian city of Medina, but despite an initial release of some 45 passengers, the hijackers were recalcitrant in marathon negotiations with Saudi officials. Saudi Arabian forces finally stormed the plane on Friday, killing one of the hijackers and a Turkish passenger in the crossfire. A Russian stewardess was stabbed and killed by one of the hijackers. Russian authorities want the hijackers extradited to Moscow.
On the brink
HAVING teetered on the verge of collapse for three days, the world's largest oil rig was said to have stabilised on Sunday, raising hopes that the $350 million deep-sea drilling facility 120 kilometres off the Brazilian coast might be salvaged. Located in Brazil's main oil-producing region, the 40-storey structure was meant to be the new face of the beleaguered state-run Petrobras company. But the company was facing another potential oil slick after blasts tore into one of the large floating columns that man the platform corners last Thursday, causing the structure to lean precariously. Specialists were working to set the rig upright and avoid yet another environmental disaster when the rig collapsed on Tuesday.One man was burned to death and nine missing workers are presumed dead. Brazilians are stunned that Petrobras is again at the centre of a crisis. Some 34 people were killed in a similar blast in 1984 and more than 35 people have been killed in accidents since 1998. Two incidents in the course of seven months last year led to millions of litres of oil being spilled into formerly pristine waters.
China manhunt
AN UNUSUAL front-page warrant ran in Saturday's local newspapers in the Chinese city of Shijiazhuang, south of Beijing. Jin Ruchao, a deaf man suspected in the killing of his girlfriend earlier this month, is now well-known to residents of the area -- either because they were touched by his violent crimes, or because they seek the juicy $6,000 bounty being offered.Jin is the prime suspect in the coordinated explosions that rocked worker housing complexes early Friday morning, but locals point to a number of possible causes -- from underworld gangs to high-level corruption. The four blasts occurred within an hour of each other, killing over 100 people and injuring some 40 others. Police are eager to wrap up the case as local faith in security forces weakens. The incident follows another devastating blast that killed more than 40 people at a school on 6 March.
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