Part of Tail Section Found Along Doomed Jet’s Route : 4 Survivors Were Seated in Row 54

TOKYO —  Part of the vertical tail fin of a downed Japan Air Lines jetliner was found in waters outside Tokyo today, 90 miles from the crash site along a route that Flight 123 followed before veering off course. Investigators said the part might explain why the pilot lost control of his jumbo jet before the crash.

At the crash site today, rescuers found four survivors but saw no other signs of life, meaning that 520 people perished in history’s worst crash of a single plane.

Airline spokesman Masaru Watanabe said the tail assembly, part of the vertical stabilizer, was fished out of Sagami Bay about 60 miles southwest of Tokyo by a construction company tanker.

Watanabe said it is “highly likely” that the tail assembly, emblazoned with JAL’s distinctive red crane logo, broke off the plane before the crash. He said the stabilizer acts like a rudder and is essential to the pilot’s control of the aircraft.

No Control Without It

“Without it, you can’t control a plane--all you can do is accelerate and decelerate,” he said.

The recovery of the part could provide investigators with their first solid clue in determining the cause of the crash. The loss would coincide with the pilot’s report that he lost control of the plane before plunging to the ground.

Also, the part was found on the flight path of the plane, from Tokyo’s Haneda airport to the western city of Osaka, at a point near where it veered northward in an attempt to make an emergency landing, Watanabe said. By the time it crashed, the plane had gone about 100 miles off its flight path, officials said.

It was not clear how the plane lost the part, but Watanabe said the airline had not ruled out a possible collision with a flock of birds. The stabilizer was taken ashore at Yokohama late in the day and taken to Tokyo for examination by JAL engineers.

6 Americans Aboard

At least six Americans were reported to be aboard Flight 123 when it smashed into a remote mountain Monday and burst into flames about 60 miles northwest of Tokyo.

Police said searchers dropped in by helicopter at the crash site found four passengers who had survived in the still-smoking wreckage for 17 hours. They were Mikiko Yoshizaki, 8, and her mother, Hiroko, 34, of Okayama, Japan; Keiko Kawakami, 12, and Yumi Ochiai, 26, an off-duty stewardess. Fifty bodies were recovered before the search was suspended because of darkness.

The survivors were taken by military helicopter to a hospital in Fujioka. Their conditions were unknown.

Television pictures showed the Yoshizakis on stretchers--dirty, battered and bandaged. Mikiko was said to have murmured her name when she was found.

Rescued From Tree

Fuji TV said Keiko Kawakami was rescued from the branches of a tree. She told a TV reporter: “I don’t remember anything about the accident. I was sitting in the back.”

Airline spokesman Geoffrey Tudor told NBC’s “Today” show that the survivors were seated “fairly close to the tail. How they survived is a miracle.” They were reportedly sitting in row 54 at the time of the crash.

A Tokyo television station reported that it had photographs showing that the same plane had been involved seven years ago in an accident involving the tail section, but airline spokesmen said they would not be able to confirm or deny the report before Wednesday.

The jet, loaded with holiday week vacationers and businessmen, was on a shuttle flight when it plowed into the mountain, setting fires and scattering plane parts and personal effects over half a mile.