The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 50, Ed. 1 Monday, December 29, 1997 Page: 6 of 12
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--—_—THE BAYTOWN SUN7 Monday, December 29,1997* 1
Plane plunges over Pacific; one dead, 102 injured
NARITA, Japan (AP) — Sud-
den turbulence over the Pacific
sent a United Airlines jumbo jet
plunging toward the sea, tossing
passengers and crew headfirst
into overhead compartments and
the ceiling. One woman was
killed and 102 were hurt, forcing
the plane to return to Japan today. 4
The cabin of Flight 826, bound
for Honolulu, was filled with
screams as the plane plummeted
nearly 1,000 feet without warn-
ing.
Passengers said the turbulence
was so violent that those standing
in the aisles were thrown several
feet into the air while some who
were seated bumped their heads
on the overhead luggage compart-
ments.
The plane, with 393 people
abroad, turned back.and landed
early today at Narita, 40 miles
northeast of Tokyo.
Of the 102 people treated for
injuries, 11 passengers and one
crew member remained hospital-
ized today, said Toru Kawai, an
airport police spokesman at Nari-
ta.
“I thought I was dying,” said
Kiyotaka Eto, a 16-year-old high
school student from Osaka who
had been headed for a surfing
vacation in Hawaii.
He saicfhis seatbelt saved him
from injury.
A traveling companion, Yuji
Takahashi. 17, who wasn't wear-
ing a seat belt, said, “1 hit my head
on the ceiling. It was like, some-
thing straight out of the movies.” ;
A United spokeswoman said the
Boeing 747 encountered “severe
clear-air turbulence,” unanticipat-
ed rockiness that develops when
there are no storms visible.
The jolting lasted several min-
utes.
Most of those hurt suffered
head or neck injuries, police
spokesman Kawai said. Konomi
Kataura, 32, of Tokyo died of
internal bleeding in her head, he
said.
In a videotape taken by a pas-
senger, aboard and shown on
Japan’s NHK television, oxygen
masks swayed from the ceiling
and people lay in an aisle.
Screams could be heard.
“Suddenly the plane dropped
and people were jumping and
falling, and things came flying at
me - like juice cans, food,” said
Chieko Ejiri, a 28-year-old cloth-
ing company employee, who was
on her way to a vacation with her
boyfriend.
Many people were dozing off
when the plane lurched, rattled for
a few minutes then went into a
sudden free fall. The seat belt sign
was off, and some people were
wandering around the aisles.
Ejiri saw one woman, who had
just walked out of the test room,
flung against a seat.
“When she got Up, there was
blood on her shirt,” Ejiri said at
the hotel where the airline took
the passengers to wait for another
flight. “I saw people with bleed-
ing bandages on their heads and
someone with his arm in a sling.
And one person was crying out in
pain that his ribs hurt.”
Ejiri escaped unscathed.
The plunge was over in a flash.
When the plane finally settled
down, passengers saw that the
ceiling was sprayed with red
wine, and parts of the aisle were
filled with shattered plates.
The bottles of cologne in the
rest rooms were broken. The over-
head luggage compartments were
cracked in some spots. And the
oxygen masks had popped out
and were dangling from above.
Those seated toward the back of
the plane were more seriously
injured than those in the front
seats.
“Our hearts go out to everyone
who was on the flight and to their
family, to their friends and. loved
ones,” United Chairman and CEO
Gerald Greenwald said.
United has assigned representa-
tives to each of the hospitals to
assist passengers, said Joe Hop-
kins, United spokesman in Chica-
go. Those who were not injured
were taken to hotels, he said.
NATION BRIEFS
barefaced and barehanded vendors
pulled birds from cages and drew
their knives quickly across the
necks. No vendors are known to
have been sickened by the flu. The
teams threw the birds in plastic
garbage bags, tossed in cupfuls of
lime and sealed them in dumpsters
been confirmed, including the four
who died, and seven are suspected.
The method of transmission
remains a mystery, and there is no
vaccine. Not everyone exposed to
the virus falls ill. At least nine peo-
ple developed antibodies to the flu
without developing symptoms and
for transportation to government- four who had been sickened were
run landfills. , - . discharged from the hospital today
Thirteen cases of the flu have after making full recoveries.
Stodders hit tree, one dead
MILWAUKEE — A man and his grandson sledding down an icy,
snow-packed slope known as “Suicide Hill” slammed into a tree,
killing the 2-year-old boy and seriously injuring the grandfather.
“They hit a tree dead on,” police Sgt. Thomas Doehling said. “The
2-year-old was apparently pinned between grandpa and the tree and
suffered fatal injuries.”
Jack C. Fulayter died in the accident Sunday. His grandfather,
Bernard Fulayter, 52, was in serious condition at Froedtert Memorial
Lutheran Hospital, said police Lt Gregory Baur.
Accidents are common at the popular sledding hill, especially
when the slope turns icy and sledders use an area that has a number
of trees, neighbore said.
At least two other sledders suffered injuries on the hill that day.
— The Associated Press
Sombing victims’ testimonies unemotional
DENVER — Victims of the Oklahoma City bombing were forced
to keep their most emotional testimony bottled up while testifying at
Terry Nichols’ trial. It should flow freely as they take the stand dur-
ing the penalty phase.
Prosecutors limited the
most provocative testimo-
ny during the guilt phase
after defense objections
that it could be prejudicial. But stories of loss were expected to be at
the forefront in the penalty phase scheduled to begin today.
The same jurors deliberated 41 hours over six days before convict-
ing Nichols last week of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter in
the April 19,1995, bombing that killed 168 people. But they found
Nichols innocent of using a truck bomb to kill and destroy the Alfred
P Murrah Federal Building and innocent of murder, concluding he
did not set out to kill anyone.
After hearing witnesses for both sides and arguments from the
attorneys, jurors will have to decide whether Nichols should be exe-
cuted or spend his life in prison. If they can’t decide, it will be up to
US. District Judge Richard Matsch to decide on a lesser sentence.
Dog stays by side, keeps girt alive
LITTLE ROCK—A dust mop of a dog stayed by a girl’s side for
nearly 24 hours after she got lost in a cold ravine, and his barking at a
mysterious white owl kept the girl awake — and alive — in 14-
degree weather.
Misty Harger was cold and hungry but otherwise fine Sunday
afternoon when rescuers found her on the banks of the Buffalo
National River in northwest Arkansas. Scotty, the mixed breed Mio
kept the 12-year-old girl awake, received a hero’s welcome at home.
“It’s a miracle. Because of this precious little dog, that sweet, beau-
tiful girl is still alive,” said Shirley Adams, who rescued Scotty from
a dog pound eight years ago. “Isn’t that wonderful?”
He was duly rewarded with a dinner of ham and milk. “He usually
gets dog food out of a bag and sleeps outside,” Mrs. Adams’ hus-
band, Gary, said.
Misty was on an outing with her foster family when she strayed
early Saturday afternoon. Scotty happened upon her a few hours later
and followed her deeper into the craggy and cold Buffalo River val-
ley.
“I wouldn’t have given her much of a chance,” said Sgt. A.D.
Bolen of the Searcy County Sheriff’s Department. “Stories like this
usually don’t have a happy ending.”
But Scotty—a dog Adams said was “a Heinz 57 who looks like a
dust mop” — stayed with the girl and, more importantly, kept her
awake.
“The girl said that through the night, the dog kept barking at a
white owl. I don’t know of any white owls in the county,” Bolen said.
Mom on trial for obese daughter’s death
MARTINEZ, Calif. — At age 9, Christina Corrigan weighed at
least 237 pounds. She weighed 680 pounds when she was found
dead four years later, when her heart simply gave out.
Now her mother, who left her alone while making a run to the gro-
cery store, is on trial on a felony child abuse charge. Her trial could
end this week, with the defense expected to finish presenting its case
today.
The trial and Christina’s short life have become public lightning
rods for attitudes toward food and weight Activists for the obese say
society—not Christina’s mother—is more to blame for her daugh-
ter’s death.
“It’s file last safe prejudice,” said Frances White, president of the
National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. “This woman
would not be on trial if her daughter had any other condition beside
being large.”
Prosecutors say they charged Marlene Corrigan strictly because of
the condition in which her daughter’s body was found on Nov. 19,
1996 — lying on a dirty sheet, scarred with bedsores and with feces
trapped in the folds of her flesh.
Christina spent the last months of her life lying in front of a televi-
sion, barely able to hoist herself up to go to the bathroom, according
to police reports.
Defense attorneys portray Ms. Corrigan as a caring but over-
worked single mother who was working full time and checking in
frequently on two sick parents while raising Christina and her broth-
er, Chad. And they say police exaggerated fire apartment’s condi-
tions.
ens. Uncounted ducks, geese, quail
and other edible birds also were
being killed as suspected carriers of
the influenza virus A H5N1, which
has long been known to infect birds
but jumped to humans for the first
time this year.
Government workers in white
surgical masks and gloves moved
Chickens, ducks slaughtered in Hong Kong to prevent flu spread
HONG KONG (AP) — Vendors
slit the throats of their chickens and
ducks today, and government teams
gassed flocks on farms in a mass
slaughter designed to eradicate a
mysterious 'flu that has killed four
people.
Family flocks as well as com-
mercial farms were targeted in the w ________
massive, 24-hour drive to kill Hong down the market aisles with clip-
Kong’s estimated 1.2 million chick- boards, keeping count while
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Dobbs, Gary. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 50, Ed. 1 Monday, December 29, 1997, newspaper, December 29, 1997; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1176700/m1/6/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.