GREEK FRONTIER

REPORT

| AIRCRAFT IN FLAMES

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

ATHENS, JuLY 27

Greek frontier authorities reported today that an Israel Constellation airliner flying at 17,500ft. was hit at 0730 hours local time to-day by Bulgarian anti-aircraft guns and crashed near the village of Sirvanovo, 10 miles north-east of Petritch, on Bulgarian soil near the Greek-Bulgarian border. They had seen two parachutists drop from the burning aircraft, one of them in flames. Later they reported that Bulgarian ambulances had been seen near the wreckage.

An El-Al airlines representative left Athens to-day to try to reach the wreckage in Bulgaria. El-Al in Athens confirmed that the aircraft was piloted by Captain Hinks, a wartime personal pilot to Sir Winston Churchill. The airliner dropped two parachute flares to indicate danger when it was hit.

After instructions from the Israel Foreign Ministry, the Israel diplomatic representative. in Athens sent an attachd to try to reach the wreckage. He has been granted by the Greek Foreign Ministry a laisser-passer to the Greek military zone of the Greek-Bulgarian frontier, from where he will try to cross into Bulgaria.

An Israel civil aviation investigating committee of six members is expecte here early this morning on its way to Bulgaria, where it is to inquire into the circumstances of the incident. It is understood that the Greek Foreign Ministry and the Bulgarian legation in Athens have promised to help the mission in its task.

ArHENS, July 27.-Two Greek Army officers at an outpost in Macedonia reported that they saw the airliner deviate from the international air route, which runs along the Greek side of the border, and plunge into a mountainside just in Bulgarian territory. It broke in tvo after crashing, they said. They heard the sound of antiaircraft fire.

A last message from the aircraft, picked up by Athens radio, said that it had been fired on by Bulgarian anti-aircraft guns. -Reuter.