The World - News from Dec. 2, 1988

Japanese police sought criminal charges against 20 people, including employees of Boeing Co., Japan Air Lines and the Japanese Transport Ministry, after a three-year investigation of the 1985 crash of a Boeing 747 that killed 520 people. Police said the crash resulted from professional negligence in repairing, inspecting and maintaining the plane after it scraped its tail in a hard landing at Osaka in 1978. Boeing said it believes the accident did not involve a criminal act. Officials have said that faulty repairs led to metal fatigue in a rear cabin pressure bulkhead, which ruptured in flight, blowing off part of the tail fin and rudder.