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Eugene Hasenfus, who as a 45-year-old former Marine and laid-off construction worker was thrust into the national spotlight in 1986 when, on a covert mission sponsored by the C.I.A., his gunrunning cargo plane was shot down over Nicaragua, setting off what would become known as the Iran-contra affair, died on Wednesday at his home in Menominee, Mich. He was 84.
His death was confirmed in an obituary provided by his family to the Hansen-Onion-Martell Funeral Home in nearby Marinette, Wis., where Mr. Hasenfus was born. He had been treated for cancer for nine years, his family said.
Mr. Hasenfus emerged out of obscurity on Oct. 5, 1986, when a missile fired by troops fighting for Nicaragua’s leftist government downed his plane while it was on a run to drop arms to right-wing rebel forces, known as contras, who were seeking to overthrow the country’s leaders.
The pilot, co-pilot and radio operator of the plane, a twin-engine vestige of the 1950s, died in its fiery crash in a patch of jungle in southern Nicaragua. Mr. Hasenfus, who had been responsible for packing and dropping the arms, was the lone survivor.