Picasso Work In Wreckage Of Flight 111

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia - A Picasso painting, diamonds and possibly millions of dollars in currency and gold are resting on the ocean floor off Nova Scotia in the wreckage of Swissair Flight 111.

The USS Grapple, a U.S. Navy salvage ship, was preparing today to begin lifting large chunks of the jetliner. The operation also could help investigators determine why the plane crashed.

Lt. John Oliveira, spokesman for the Grapple, which recovered pieces of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island in 1996, said the lift would begin as soon as Canadian authorities give approval, after divers recover remains.

The primary targets are five sections of fuselage sitting in about 190 feet of water six miles from shore.

Flight 111, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, plowed into the sea off Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, on Sept. 2, killing all 229 people on board. It was trying to reach Halifax to make an emergency landing after taking off from New York en route to Geneva.

In Zurich, Switzerland, today, Swissair official Klaus Knappik said a Picasso painting worth an estimated $1.5 million, "The Painter," was aboard and had been destroyed.

Swissair would not disclose the identities of the sender and receiver of the painting, but said it was in a normal freight container.

Knappik also said nearly 110 pounds of cash and 4 1/2 pounds of diamonds were aboard the flight. He did not give the worth of the diamonds and the money. The money was being sent from a U.S. bank to another U.S. bank in Switzerland.

Wayne Noonan, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said the bills had been in a safe in the jet's cargo hold.

Swissair also said the plane was carrying a locked box containing possibly millions of dollars in currency and gold. The airline, which frequently transports money in and out of Geneva, would not give a dollar figure or say to whom it belonged or where it was going.

Swissair said another artwork was also on the plane, but the identification of the painting was unknown.