Bert Schlossberg, speaking at a recent AIM luncheon, provided evidence that Korean Air Lines Flight 007, which was shot down in 1983 by a Soviet air-to-air missile and was believed to have exploded upon being hit, had actually landed safely in the Pacific and that passengers were rescued from the site. Schlossberg, the son-in-law of one of the passengers, has dedicated the past ten years to researching the incident and informing the public of his conclusions.

Schlossberg cited evidence, including KAL 007's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, transcripts of Soviet aviation controller communications, Japanese radar trackings, the debris (and lack thereof), and eyewitness testimonies. Boris Yeltsin handed over communication records to the United Nations in 1991. The Soviet transcripts of ground-to-ground and ground-to-air communications show an essentially botched mission to destroy KAL 007. The Soviets wrongfully believed KAL 007 was a U.S. spy plane invading its airspace headed for inland Russia to conduct a reconnaissance mission.

Following the impact of the missiles, the transcripts show the plane was still in flight, and still able to navigate the sky, circling the tiny island of Moneron, in Soviet territory, until it was lost.

There was no eyewitness report by any official indicating the fate of the plane—neither of any explosion nor of any safe landing. However, by 17 minutes after KAL 007 was tracked by the Soviets at 1,000 feet above the surface of the sea, Russian military commanders had ordered two rescue missions involving search boats, rescue helicopters, and civilian trawlers that were at that time in the vicinity of Moneron to go there.

Thus, Schlossberg draws an inference that the Soviets knew that the plane had landed. What would be the purpose of such an extensive rescue mission unless they believed there were survivors?

Furthermore, a 1991 CIA report compiled by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Republican Staff contains eyewitness reports of Soviet fishermen off Moneron, who saw rescuers escort passengers off the downed plane. Schlossberg reports that there also was a total lack of debris around the site. In other incidents similar to this, the immediate area around the site would contain debris, clothing, luggage, and, sadly, some human remains. None of that was ever found, not even by divers who searched the waters in the area around the wreckage site.

He believes that the passengers were either imprisoned, forced into labor camps, or (in the case of children) assimilated into Soviet society following the crash. The evidence for his beliefs comes primarily from the Research Center for Prisons, Psychprisons and Forced Labor Concentration Camps of the USSR.

Schlossberg continues to uncover the mysteries of what happened that day and to educate the public. He has published a book Rescue 007: The Untold Story of KAL 007 and Its Survivors. He has received support from U.S. politicians, including Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina. For more information into the ongoing investigation go to: www.rescue007.org.

David Gardner is an intern at Accuracy in Media.

For questions or comments, please contact Intern@AIM.org.