Businessmen End Controversial Bid to Raise Plane in Which Clemente Died

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A group of businessmen on Tuesday called off its controversial efforts to raise the airplane in which Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente was killed two decades ago.

The decision followed a meeting with Clemente’s widow, Vera, and sons Luis and Roberto Jr., who had derided the effort as a waste of money.

The Clemente family refused to allow the name of the Hall of Fame outfielder to be used in fund raising for the salvage attempt, which organizers said would have cost at least $100,000.

The Pittsburgh Pirate star, practically a patron saint in his native Puerto Rico, was one of five killed on Dec. 31, 1972. Their four-engine DC-7, en route to earthquake-devastated Nicaragua on a mercy mission, crashed shortly after takeoff from San Juan.

In announcing the cancellation, organizers defended their attempt as “humanitarian, Christian and not lucrative.”

Their main intention, businessman LeRoy Camero said, was “so that the people of Puerto Rico would have the opportunity to honor the memory of these excellent citizens who offered their lives on a goodwill mission.”

The remains of the plane are in 125-foot-deep waters about a mile off the coast of Carolina, Clemente’s hometown east of San Juan.

Vera de Clemente, who has marked the death each year by throwing flowers into the sea, last week called the crash site “a natural tomb.”

She and Roberto Jr. keep the ballplayer’s memory alive by running the Roberto Clemente Sports City, an athletic complex for underprivileged children.