Rising Toll

Two air-transport tragedies, 5,300 miles and 34 hours apart, last week brought 1960's grim record to eight major fatal crashes, 326 dead:

P: In the clouds over Rio de Janeiro's Guanabara Bay, two planes--a U.S. Navy

R6D (military version of the four-engined DC-6) and a twin-engined Real Airlines (Brazilian) DC3--collided as both were circling to land. The Brazilian plane knifed through the Navy transport, cutting it in two and spilling bodies and debris out of the clouds into the water. Aboard the U.S. plane, on their way to Rio to play for Presidents Eisenhower and Kubitschek, were 23 members of the famed Navy Band. All were killed. Out of a total of 64 aboard the two planes, there were just three survivors--all U.S. Navymen who were riding in the shorn tail section of the Navy transport, which spun down from about 5,000 feet like a falling leaf, allowing them to escape alive with minor injuries.

P: In Ireland, a big Alitalia airliner took off from Shannon Airport, outbound for New York, reached an altitude of 300 feet, then unaccountably veered off to the left and crashed. The fuselage of the big Italian DC-7 ripped through a country churchyard and a flock of sheep, leaving a mile-long trail of bodies, tombstones and burning debris. Said the Rev. Thomas Comerford, pastor of the church: "People were screaming, sheep were crying, and dogs were barking. It was like a scene from hell." Of 52 aboard, 30 were killed, and many of the 22 survivors were critically burned.

The Civil Aeronautics Board last week confirmed that the fatal crash of a National Airlines DC-6B in North Carolina (TIME, Jan. 18) was caused by sabotage. Reported CAB Chairman James Durfee: "We have found evidence that a dynamite explosion, initiated by a dry-cell battery, occurred within the aircraft cabin in the vicinity of the seat occupied by Julian Frank." Manhattan Lawyer Frank, deeply in debt, had insured his life for more than $1,000,000.

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