30 January 2013
Italy to pay compensation for failure to protect passenger jet from stray missile
Italy’s highest criminal court has ruled that Italian radar systems did not adequately protect jets from stray missiles, and that Italy must compensate the victims’ families. It held that there was “abundantly” clear evidence that a stray missile caused an Italian passenger jet to crash into the Mediterranean Sea in 1980, resulting in the death of all 81 people aboard.
It remains unclear who fired the missile. One theory is that the jet was caught in the crossfire of a military aerial fight, with a Libyan plane possibly the target. French, U.S. and NATO officials have denied military activity in the skies that night.