Lucona

Motor ship, sunk in 1977

Lucona was a ship sunk in the Indian Ocean by a bomb on 23 January 1977.

History

After Lucona was sunk in the Indian Ocean by a bomb on 23 January 1977, businessman Udo Proksch, the owner of the cargo, also then-owner of famous Viennese confectioners Demel, claimed 212 million schilling (approx. US$20 million) from his insurance company, saying that the cargo was expensive uranium mining equipment.^[1]

The Lucona was located by American shipwreck hunter David Mearns in January 1991; it was the first wreck he discovered at great depth, 4,200 metres (13,799 feet). Working as a Project Manager with Eastport International, he found that the ship had been sunk by a time bomb.^[2] While fraud had been suspected, investigations were obstructed by powerful Austrian politicians who were friends of Proksch. ^[3] Eventually, several ex-ministers were convicted over their involvement. The ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Leopold Gratz, was sentenced for forging documents authenticating the cargo, and Finance Minister Hannes Androsch was dismissed for obstructing the investigations. The Minister of Defense Karl Lütgendorf, a shareholder in the Proksch firm, had given permission to deliver explosives to sabotage the ship and committed suicide when that became known.^[4]

Proksch fled to the Philippines in 1988 after Hans Pretterebner published a book about the scandal. Returning to Vienna incognito in 1989, he was recognized and arrested. He was found guilty of fraud, and sentenced to 20 years in prison on March 11, 1991. Walking out of the courtroom Proksch said "Heil Hitler!" A year later the sentence was increased to life in prison. He died on 27 June 2001 during heart surgery.^[1]

Works about the Lucona case

1988: Hans Pretterebner published a book about the Lucona case, Der Fall Lucona.
1993: The Lucona Affair [de], a film of the book about the Lucona, starring David Suchet; see IMDb entry.
2023: Drain the Oceans (Season 6, Episode 6), television documentary by National Geographic.

References

^ ^a ^b "Udo Proksch: Mad Genius or Murderer – Out of Control". The Vienna Review. 1 April 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
^ Shelsby, Ted (1996-07-29). "Local firm brings clues to surface Oceaneering operates equipment used at TWA crash site". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2013-10-25.
^ "The Lucona Affair", by R.C. Longworth, Chicago Tribune, March 15, 1989
^ "Kreiskys adeliger Minister, Waffengeschäfte und ein rätselhafter Tod". nachrichten.at. Retrieved 6 January 2015.