Verdict: Sabotage

After six weeks' inquiry, an Indonesian investigating commission last week brought in its findings on the Air India Constellation which crashed, killing 16 persons, including eight Red Chinese on their way (after a stopover in Hong Kong) to the Bandung Conference (TIME, April 25). Verdict: sabotage. Having salvaged almost 90% of the wreckage from the shallow waters off Great Natuna Island in the South China Sea, the commission said that it found "positive evidence of an explosion in the starboard wheel-well of a timed infernal machine." The evidence consisted of 1) "deep pitting by shrapnel." 2) "a hole blown inward into the No. 3 fuel tank." 3) "four parts of a twisted, burned and corroded clockwork mechanism that has no relation to any equipment or structure of the aircraft." These proofs of sabotage, the Indonesians concluded, are "irrefutable."

Who placed the "infernal machine" in the plane's wheel-well was an unanswered question. Before anyone could possibly know what had happened. Radio Peking had laid the blame on "secret agent organizations of the U.S. and Chiang Kai-shek,': a charge which the State Department promptly dismissed as "preposterous.' Last week the Hong Kong government, taking the Indonesian findings at face value, said that "it seems probable that the explosive device was placed in the aircraft in Hong Kong." The British Foreign Office agreed. When the plane wa= serviced and refueled at Hong Kong, the British had kept unauthorized persons away from the plane. Among the mechanics, caterers and others who had authorized admittance to the plane were a number of Hong Kong Chinese.

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