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BY G. ANDRE DEL AMO Air Force confirmed Thurs day that the B-52 bomber that crashed Monday after colliding with a tanker plane was carry ing at least one unarmed nu “The SAC bomber which was engaged in a refueling operation off the coast of Spain and' suffered an accident with mg unarmed nuclear arma established that there is no danger to public health or safe plane was carrying several nu clear devices and that all but one had been recovered. Amer ican airmen equipped with Geiger counters have been car rying out a top-secret search near the village of Palomares on the southeastern Spanish, ty as a result of this accident.” THE official announcement ended more than three days of U.S. silence on whether the B-52 was carrying nuclear wea AT THE SCENE of the crash, the correspondent saw American airmen, carrying Gei ger counters and wearing radi ation detection badges. I was told by a guard that a nuclear device was missing from the B-52 and that the area was contaminated. I. also was pres ent when a farmer nearby was asked to leave toe area because of possible radiation danger. Ohe Spanish civilian reported seeing a bomb sticking out of toe ground last Monday. Reports spread through this little village 95 miles east of Granada that three nuclear de vices had been recovered but one was still missing. The local population began criticizing the government for allowing Amer ican nuclear bombers to fly HUNDREDS of airmen were Continued from Page 1 involved in the search at this coastal farming area. The Br52 rammed into a hugfe KC-135 jet tanker at an altitude of 30,000 feet, killing three of seven fliers in the bomber and all four crew mem - bers aboard the tanker. Four of the B-52 crewmen bailed out of the plane and were picked with nuclear capability ■ have crashed in the past, this1, was. the first known crash of an Nuclear bombs usually are detonated by explosive charges., contained within the bomb, or by other types of fusing ar rangements similar to those in conventional bombs. Unde r normal conditions, a bomb would not be armed until the ' start of a bombing mission. ; OFFICIALS in Washington j have testified on previous oeca- ' sions that in the event of a crash, it would be highly un likely for the radioactive mate rial in a bomb to become ex posed. As a standard precau tion, however, strict procedures are instituted whenever a misj hap occurs. The procedures in I the past have included an area quarantine and a search by crews .with geiger counters.; “The Americans found some thing but they are looking for for the the Spanish civil guard The spokesman reported the immediate search area was evacuated but he said there was : no general evacuation. “One of the civil guards was taken to the hospital Wednes day morning after he merely touched some part of the wreckage,” the Spanish spokes man said. “He had no visible ONE MAN who arrived at the scene a few hours after the crash Monday said he saw one of the bombs imbedded in the