Victims Of Swissair Flight 111

As officials begin to search for the remains of Swissair Flight 111 crash victims, the names of a few of the 229 passengers have been unofficially released.

Swissair vice president Walter Vollenweider announced Thursday the nationalities of the victims, based on the passports shown before they boarded the plane. He said that none of the passengers survived the crash.

The number of passengers from each country was announced as follows: U.K., 6; Swiss, 28; France, 30; Saudi Arabia, 1; Germany, 3; Yugoslavia, 1; Afghanistan, 1; Greece, 2; Iran, 1; Spain, 1; St. Kitts, 1; Italy, 3; Russia, 1; U.S.A., 136.

Seven U.N. staffers, including one American, are also believed to have been on the plane. The American is identified as Pierce Gerety of the U.N.'s High Commission on Refugees, based in Geneva.

Two other Americans on the plane were Paul and Joan Hammond of Edmonds, Washington. A relative told state officials that the couple were on a vacation.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) says Dr. Jonathan Mann and his wife, Mary Lou Clements-Mann, were killed Wednesday night when the New-York-to-Geneva flight went down off Nova Scotia.

Mr. Mann, 51, became known as the outspoken head of the World Health Organization's AIDS program when the disease exploded in the 1980s.

He was dean of Allegheny University of the Health Science's School of Public Health in Philadelphia, formerly known as Hahnemann University Hospital. He was a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health at the time of his death.

His wife, Mary-Lou Clements-Mann, was with him on the plane when it went down Wednesday night. She was an AIDS vaccine researcher and a professor in the department of international health and the director of Johns Hopkins' Center for Immunization Research.

Jonathan Mann resigned in December from Harvard University's School of Public Health, where he was a professor of internationl health and epidemiology. He was also director of Harvard's Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center of Health and Human Rights.

The Boston native headed the WHO's AIDS program from 1986 until 1990, when he resigned amid a bitter clash with Hiroshi Nakajima, then WHO's director-general. Nakajima's attitude "completely paralyzed our efforts," Mann said at the time.

"It's a terrific loss for the whole AIDS community, because his name and voice are very familiar to anybody who works on this issue," Larry Kessler, executive director of the AIDS Action Committee of Boston, said of Mann's death.

Mann had intended as a medical student to become an eye doctor, but fast became interested in public health when he worked after graduation in New Mexico for the Centers for Disease Control. He switched to the state's public health department, where he stayed for 10 years and was credited with helping control bubonic plague.

After that, Mann said he needed a change and took an offer to spend a year in Zaire setting up an AIDS research facility under the auspices of the WHO.

A memorial observance was scheduled for Thursday, Leclair said.

The U.N. issued a statement offering condolences to the victims' relatives. It says all U.N. flags in Geneva will fly at half-staff Friday as a sign of mourning.