The Israel Cabinet heard a report yesterday based on the investigations of the special commission of inquiry into the recent El Al plane disaster, which recently returned from its on-the-spot check in Bulgaria and Greece.
The report according to the newspaper, “Maariv,” said that the plane had been pushed 33 miles inside Bulgarian territory by strong winds. It also reported that the Bulgarian fighter planes had not only hit the Israel airliner in the air, where it exploded but that they had also fired at it after it was downed–causing its complete destruction. The inquiry commission’s full report is expected to be made public in the near future.
The inquiry commission, which was sent for an on-the-spot investigation immediately after the downing of the Israeli airliner by Bulgarian fighter planes, was composed of government and airline experts. They were permitted by the Bulgarian authorities to remain on the site of the crash for about half an hour only.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.