Baghdad, Dec. 21.
Three passengers and four mem~
Uiver, crack passenger plane of hers of the crew of the fated Netherlands Air Service, were killed when the ait-liner crashed on to the desert and burned somewhere be~ tween Gaza and Baghdad, according' to word received from the Royal Air Force planes which located the wreck of the Douglas luxury liner The machine, of which nothing had been heard for more than 20 hours, was found burnt to cinders today by Royal Air Force planes the desert ten miles south of Rutbah. All its occupants were killed, namely: reify, Director vf Netherlands East {s surmised that the air liner was struck by lightning shortly after emitting a signal at 230 yesterday morning asking for its position when near Rutbah Wells. The plane rashed in a country full of narrow gorges and sharp rocky ridges, It is pointed out that this is the first serious accident suffered by the Royal Dutch Line for many years, but this does not hide the fact that national pride has been wounded. Holland, however, finds some solace in the fact that the heroes of the gruelling air race, K: D. Parmentier and J.J. Moll, were not on board.
No fewer than 24 Royal Air Force machines took part in the search, which lasted for several hours.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.