Mystery still surrounds death of revered UN chief Hammarskjöld, 63 years after tragic plane crash

On the first day of his second term, Secretary-General Hammarskjöld (back of car, at right) leaves UN Headquarters on the way to the luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in his honour, hosted by New York City Mayor Robert Wagner.

Significant new information

According to the UN’s Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq, “significant new information” has been submitted to the inquiry for this latest update.

This included probable intercepts by Member States of communications related to the crash, the capacity of Katanga’s armed forces, or others, to mount an attack on SE-BDY and the involvement of foreign paramilitary or intelligence personnel in the area at the time.

It also included additional new information relevant to the context and surrounding events of 1961.

“At this juncture, [Mr. Othman] assesses it to remain plausible that an external attack or threat was a cause of the crash. [He] notes that the alternative hypotheses that appear to remain available are that the crash resulted from sabotage or unintentional human error,” Mr. Haq said.

Documents almost certainly withheld  

However, Mr. Othman assesses so far that it is “almost certain” specific, crucial and so far undisclosed information exists in the archives of Member States, Mr. Haq said.

He noted that Mr. Othman has not received, to date, specific responses to his queries from some Member States believed to be holding useful information.

“The Secretary-General has personally followed up on [Mr. Othman’s] outstanding requests for information and calls upon Member States to release any relevant records in their possession,” Mr. Haq added.

“With significant progress having been made, the Secretary-General calls on all of us to renew our resolve and commitment to pursue the full truth of what happened on that fateful night in 1961.”