Missile Caused 1980 Plane Crash Says Italian Court

An Italian court ruled on Monday that it was a missile that caused the mysterious 1980 plane crash that killed 81 people. According to the ruling, a stray missile caused an Italian passenger, Itavia DC-9, jet to crash into the Mediterranean Sea during a flight from Bologna to Palermo.

At that time, Italy was the scene of both Cold War tensions and domestic militancy from the left and the right.

For over 30 years, it had been theorized that a bomb exploded causing the crash. Italians also believed that the cause of the crash was covered up for security or military reasons. During investigations, documents disappeared and air traffic voice recordings were found to have either been erased or tampered with.