http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/07/world/europe/dag-hammarskjold-death-ban-ki-moon.html 2016-09-06 17:33:55 U.N. Chief Presses to Unlock Mystery of Dag Hammarskjold’s Death Britain and the United States have stonewalled requests by Ban Ki-moon to divulge information on the plane crash that killed his predecessor in 1961. === LONDON — A few days from now, the anniversary of one of the most enduring international mysteries will slide by, hardly likely to be marked by those in Britain and the United States accused of withholding the secret clues to its resolution. On the night of Sept. 17-18, 1961, an airplane carrying Dag Hammarskjold, the Read the original New York Times article on the plane crash here. Since then, a succession of inquiries have suggested that pilot error was what one investigator called the “default explanation.” But the supposition was never conclusively proved, while other theories — including the possibility that Mr. Hammarskjold’s DC-6B was brought down — have never been definitively ruled out. That enigmatic stalemate seemed destined to persist as Britain and the United States stonewalled requests by the current secretary general, But in recent weeks there have been signs that, in the closing days of his second and final term, Mr. Ban is still seeking to illuminate the destiny of his distant predecessor. He is pressing for the appointment of “an eminent person or persons” to review what has become a steady stream of potential evidence about the events of September 1961, in or over the woodlands outside Ndola. One of the clues relates to “Operation Celeste,” described in an The shadowy outfit was known as the South African Institute of Maritime Research. Word of the purported conspiracy first surfaced in 1998 in a file of documents unearthed by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. According to the authoritative “ In a note on Aug. 17 In the many years since the crash, of course, memories have begun to fade or weaken. Crucial witnesses have died, including an American naval commander, Charles M. Southall, who said he had heard a recording of an unidentified pilot claiming to have shot down the DC-6B. “This may be our last chance to find the truth,” Mr. Ban said. In Britain, the recent developments have revived the long-running dispute. “There are many conspiracy theories,” said Brian Unwin, a former diplomat who described himself as “almost certainly the only British official still living who was present at Ndola airport throughout the fateful night.” But without evidence to the contrary, That prompted It is highly likely, Mr. Goldstone wrote, that United Nations member states, “especially but not only the U.S., hold records or transcripts of cockpit transmissions in the minutes before the plane came down. If so, these may well put the cause of the crash, whatever it was, beyond doubt.” What, indeed, many specialists have asked, could be so toxic that those records must remain occluded today? Mr. Ban has urged governments to declassify their secrets. Until they do, their reticence could be interpreted as pointing less to conspiracy theories than to a conspiracy of silence.