RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: The Achille Lauro was a passenger cruise liner and it was taken over by terrorists supporting Palestinian causes. The vessel was sailing off of Italy in Mediterranean waters. One passenger, Leon Klinghoffer, in a wheelchair, was killed and pushed overboard. The world outrage was tremendous and it was an ongoing terrorist story. For the bureau -- for the CNN bureau -- it was, maybe the biggest story of my tenure as Rome bureau chief. We sent Tom Mintier up to Genoa where the ship was.</s>TOM MINTIER, LONDON BUREAU CHIEF: I was moved to Italy, not so much in the middle of the hijacking, but right about the point where it had ended. I think a lot of people who were on the Achille Lauro were really traumatized by the hijackers. And when they came off, you could see it in their faces as they walked down the gangplank. They must have had a very helpless feeling of being out in the middle of the ocean. There was a lot of mystery about where the hijackers had gone when the ship made port. The only people who came off were the victims.</s>ROTH: The accused terrorists were going to get away, but the U.S. planes went up to intercept their plane flight where they were going to be flown to a haven; then their plane was ordered to land in Italy and, eventually, many of them served prison terms.
CNN 20: The Hijackers of the Cruise Ship Achille Lauro Were Brought to Justice