On 27 June 1980, Itavia Flight 870 (IH 870, AJ 421), a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 passenger jet en route from Bologna to Palermo, Italy, crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea between the islands of Ponza and Ustica, killing all 81 people on board. Known in Italy as the Ustica massacre ("strage di Ustica"), the disaster led to numerous investigations, as well as legal actions and accusations; it continues to be a source of controversy, including claims of conspiracy by the Government of Italy and others. The Prime Minister of Italy at the time, Francesco Cossiga, attributed the crash to being accidentally shot down during a dogfight between Libyan and NATO fighter jets. Aircraft The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 flown as Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870, was manufactured in 1966 and acquired by the airline on 27 February 1972 with the serial number CN45724/22 and registration I-TIGI (formerly N902H, operated by Hawaiian Airlines). Flight history On 27 June 1980 at 20:08 CEST, the plane departed with a delay of one hour and 53 minutes from Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport for a scheduled service to Palermo Punta Raisi Airport, Sicily. With 77 passengers aboard, Captain Domenico Gatti (34), and First Officer Enzo Fontana (32), were at the controls, with two flight attendants. The flight was designated IH 870 by air traffic control, while the military radar system used AJ 421. Contact was lost shortly after the last message from the aircraft was received at 20:37, giving its position over the Tyrrhenian Sea near the island of Ustica, about southwest of Naples. At 20:59 CEST, the aircraft broke apart in mid-air and crashed. Two Italian Air Force F-104s were scrambled at 21:00 from Grosseto Air Force Base to locate the accident area and search for any survivors, but failed to do so because of poor visibility. Floating wreckage parts and bodies were later found in the area. There were no survivors among the 81 people on board. In July 2006, the re-assembled fragments of the DC-9 were returned to Bologna from Pratica di Mare Air Force Base near Rome. Official statements and litigation The perpetrators of the crime remain unidentified. In 1989, the Parliamentary Commission on Terrorism, headed by Senator Giovanni Pellegrino, issued an official statement concerning the crash of Flight 870, which became known as the "Ustica Massacre" (Strage di Ustica). The crash was referred to as "primarily an act of war, a