World Notes ITALY

Nine years have passed since an Italian-owned McDonnell Douglas DC-9 mysteriously crashed into the sea off the Sicilian island of Ustica, killing 81 people. But the tragedy continues to haunt. For years, theories about the cause have centered on poor airline maintenance or bombs.

Last week a 700-page reconstruction by an investigating magistrate pointed to another culprit: an air-to-air military missile. The evidence, as reported by the Italian press: the fuselage and several bodies recovered from the bottom of the Tyrrhenian Sea showed traces of a chemical used solely in high- powered missiles.

Defense Minister Valerio Zanone promptly stated he had seen no evidence suggesting that an Italian military aircraft had fired the missile. Prime Minister Ciriaco De Mita launched a separate inquiry to examine the possibility that non-Italian forces were to blame, although NATO officials, the U.S. and France have said that their aircraft could not have been involved. Zanone's cautious denial, coupled with the fact that key evidence has already been destroyed, prompted press speculation that a government cover-up may have taken place. Commented the Rome daily Il Messaggero: "It's no certainty that we will ever know who did it, but it is certain that there was an air chase." Someone, the newspaper added, has concealed the truth.