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Lucona
''Lucona'' was a ship sunk in the Indian Ocean on 23 January 1977 by a bomb planted by Austrian businessman Udo Proksch, as part of an insurance fraud. 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. He was subsequently convicted in 1991 of the murder of six crew (of the crew of 12) who were killed by the explosion, and died in prison. The ''Lucona'' was located by American shipwreck hunter David Mearns in January 1991; this was his first discovered very deep water wreck, at 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. While fraud had been suspected, investigations were obstructed by powerful Austrian politicians who were friends of Proksch. Eventually, several ex-ministers were convicted over their involv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Udo Proksch
Udo Proksch (29 May 1934 in Rostock, Germany – 27 June 2001 in Graz, Austria) was an Austrian businessman and industrialist. In 1991, he was convicted of the murder of six people as part of a major insurance fraud. Proksch died in prison. ''Lucona'' sinking In 1977, the ship ''Lucona'' sank in the Indian Ocean, after an explosion, killing six people. Proksch, the owner of the cargo, also then owner of famous Viennese confectioners' Demel, claimed US$20 million from his insurance company, saying that the ship was carrying expensive uranium mining equipment. Fraud was suspected; but investigations were obstructed by powerful Austrian politicians who were friends of Proksch. In 1988, Proksch fled to the Philippines after Hans Pretterebner published a book about the scandal. In 1989, he returned to Vienna, incognito, but was recognized and arrested. In 1990, ''Lucona'' was located by American shipwreck hunter David Mearns, who discovered that the ship had been sunk by a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coffin Ship (insurance)
A coffin ship is any ship that has been overinsured and is therefore worth more to its owners sunk than afloat. These were hazardous places to work in the days before effective maritime safety regulation. They were generally eliminated in the 1870s with the success of reforms championed by British MP Samuel Plimsoll. Many overloaded overinsured ships in the days of wooden sailing ships were old ships riddled with wood rot and woodworm and shipworm, repainted and renamed and falsely stated to be new ships. There were over 2,000 cases of sailors who had signed on as crew for a ship being tried in court for refusing to board upon seeing its condition. Plimsoll stated in the British Parliament, "The Secretary of Lloyd's tells a friend of mine that he does not know a single ship which has been broken up voluntarily by the owners in the course of 30 years on account of its being worn out". In 1977, the ship ''Lucona'' sank in the Indian Ocean as a result of a time bomb, which had been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Suchet
Sir David Courtney Suchet''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007'' ( ; born 2 May 1946) is an English actor known for his work on British stage and television. He portrayed Edward Teller in the television serial '' Oppenheimer'' (1980) and received the RTS and BPG awards for his performance as Augustus Melmotte in the British serial ''The Way We Live Now'' (2001). International acclaim and recognition followed his performance as Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot in ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'' (1989–2013), for which he received a 1991 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) nomination."The Actor Behind Popular 'Poirot" '' |
Karl Lütgendorf
Karl Ferdinand Lütgendorf, born Karl Ferdinand Freiherr von Lütgendorf (15 October 1914 – 9 October 1981) was an Austrian soldier and politician who served as the Defense Minister of Austria from 1971 to 1977. He died in 1981, in an apparent suicide, after the discovery of his part in the '' Lucona'' affair. He was a descendant of the air pioneer . References 1914 births 1981 deaths Austrian politicians Barons of Austria Theresian Military Academy alumni {{Austria-politician-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Demel
Demel (colloquially ''der Demel'') is a famous pastry shop and chocolaterie established in 1786 in Vienna, Austria. The company bears the title of a Purveyor to the Imperial and Royal Court (''k.u.k. Hofzuckerbäcker'') up to today. Location The building is located in the central Innere Stadt district on Kohlmarkt 14 near Hofburg Palace. The interior was designed by Portois and Fix decorators in a Neo-baroque style. The white-aproned waitresses — the ''Demelinerinnen'' — usually address the customers in a traditional honorific third person style, "''Haben schon gewählt?''" or "''Wollen etwas zu sich nehmen, wenn belieben?''". The cabaret artist Helmut Qualtinger extolled their timeless quality in his song ''Die Demelinerinnen''. Demel temporarily had one additional location in Salzburg, which was closed in March 2012. The company formerly had a small cafe at The Plaza's Retail Collection in New York City, but this location has since closed (as of March 2010). The cor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerald Freihofner
Gerald Freihofner (30 July 1946 – 21 October 2019) was an Austrian journalist. Born in Steyr, Upper Austria, between 1974 and 1990 he was managing editor of the domestic political section of the Wochenpresse (renamed to the Wirtschaftswoche in 1991). His reports in many title stories regarding the Lucona contributed to the resignation of two government ministers. Between 1995 and 2000 he was a guest professor at the Danube University Krems The University for Continuing Education Krems () is an Austrian university specializing in further education for working professionals. It is located in Krems an der Donau, Lower Austria. Name The Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Re ... (EJA – Europäische Journalismus Akademie). He led the Friedrich Funder Institute for journalist education and media research. He was also active as an independent journalist in Vienna and Lower Austria. References Austrian journalists 1946 births 2019 deaths People from Steyr Aus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Mearns
David Louis Mearns, OAM, M.Sc. (born 10 August 1958), is an American-born United Kingdom based marine scientist and oceanographer, who specializes in deep water search and recovery operations, and the discovery of the location of historic shipwrecks. Early life Mearns was raised in Weehawken, New Jersey, where he attended Weehawken High School, graduating in 1976. He subsequently graduated B.Sc. in Marine Biology from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1980, and obtained a Masters degree in Marine Geology from the University of South Florida in 1986. Oceanographic career From 1986 to 1995 Mearns was employed in the commercial undersea surveying industry in a managerial capacity. In 1990 he worked on the criminal investigation into the foundering of the freighter ''Lucona'', and in 1994 located the wreck of the ore-bulk-oil carrier . Relocating to England in the mid 1990s, he established ''Blue Water Recoveries, Limited'', a commercial company that locates and researches historic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Time Bomb
A time bomb (or a timebomb, time-bomb) is a bomb whose detonation is triggered by a timer. The use (or attempted use) of time bombs has been for various purposes including insurance fraud, terrorism, assassination, sabotage and warfare. They are a popular feature in fictional thriller and action films as they offer a way of imparting a dramatic sense of urgency. Construction The explosive charge is the main component of any bomb, and makes up most of the size and weight of it. It is the damaging element of the bomb (along with any fragments or shrapnel the explosion might produce with its container or neighboring objects). The explosive charge is detonated by a detonator. A time bomb's timing mechanism may be professionally manufactured either separately or as part of the device, or it may be improvised from an ordinary household timer such as a wind-up alarm clock, wrist watch, digital kitchen timer, or notebook computer. The timer can be programmed to count up or count do ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vienna
en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST = CEST , utc_offset_DST = +2 , blank_name = Vehicle registration , blank_info = W , blank1_name = GDP , blank1_info = € 96.5 billion (2020) , blank2_name = GDP per capita , blank2_info = € 50,400 (2020) , blank_name_sec1 = HDI (2019) , blank_info_sec1 = 0.947 · 1st of 9 , blank3_name = Seats in the Federal Council , blank3_info = , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_info_sec2 = .wien , website = , footnotes = , image_blank_emblem = Wien logo.svg , blank_emblem_size = Vienna ( ; german: Wien ; ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maritime Incidents In 1977
Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island * Maritime County, former county of Poland, existing from 1927 to 1939, and from 1945 to 1951 * Neustadt District, Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, known from 1939 to 1942 as ''Maritime District'', a former district of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, Nazi Germany, from 1939 to 1945 * The Maritime republics, Maritime Republics, thalassocratic city-states on the Italian peninsula during the Middle Ages Museums * Maritime Museum (Belize) * Maritime Museum (Macau), China * Maritime Museum (Malaysia) * Maritime Museum (Stockholm), Sweden Music * Maritime (album), ''Maritime'' (album), a 2005 album by Minotaur Shock * Maritime (band), an American indie pop group * The Maritimes (song), "The Maritimes" (song), a song on the 2005 alb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are named), it remains the most-read daily newspaper in the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It had the sixth-highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017. In the 1850s, under Joseph Medill, the ''Chicago Tribune'' became closely associated with the Illinois politician Abraham Lincoln, and the Republican Party's progressive wing. In the 20th century under Medill's grandson, Robert R. McCormick, it achieved a reputation as a crusading paper with a decidedly more American-conservative anti-New Deal outlook, and its writing reached other markets through family and corporate relationships at the ''New York Daily News'' and the ''Washington Times-Herald.'' The 1960s saw its corporate parent owner, Tribune Company, rea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by the Southern Ocean or Antarctica, depending on the definition in use. Along its core, the Indian Ocean has some large marginal or regional seas such as the Arabian Sea, Laccadive Sea, Bay of Bengal, and Andaman Sea. Etymology The Indian Ocean has been known by its present name since at least 1515 when the Latin form ''Oceanus Orientalis Indicus'' ("Indian Eastern Ocean") is attested, named after Indian subcontinent, India, which projects into it. It was earlier known as the ''Eastern Ocean'', a term that was still in use during the mid-18th century (see map), as opposed to the ''Western Ocean'' (Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic) before the Pacific Ocean, Pacific was surmised. Conversely, Ming treasure voyages, Chinese explorers in the Indian Oce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
