1994 crash was work of ‘terrorists’

Panama’s president says a 1994 plane crash that killed 21 people was the result of a terrorist attack.

Juan Carlos Varela said the evidence came from Israeli intelligence and he has asked for the case to be reopened. The plane crashed shortly after taking off from the Enrique Jimenez airport in the Caribbean province of Colon on 19 July 1994. Most of the 21 people killed were Jewish businessmen.

The cause of the crash, which happened the day after a bombing at a Jewish centre in Argentina, was never clarified. Varela said he will now ask Panamanian and Israeli authorities to reinvestigate.