Pan Am Flight 73
On September 5, 1986, a Boeing 747 (nicknamed 'Clipper Empress of the Seas') was hijacked at Jinnah International Airport at Karachi, Pakistan. The aircraft belonged to Pan American World Airways. It was of the -100 variant. Pan Am Flight 73 was a scheduled flight flying from Mumbai, India to New York, U.S.A. It had scheduled stops at Karachi and Frankfurt. It didn't leave to Frankfurt because of the 17 hour long hijack at Karachi.
What happened to the flight?
Pan Am 73 flew from Mumbai and landed at Karachi. The passengers leaving disembarked and the new set of passengers arrived at the tarmac. It was at this time that a van rushed into the ramp. Four men came out of the van and started firing at the people they saw around. The flight attendants at the forward door tried to close the door before they enter the plane. It was too late and the hijackers boarded the plane.
Why are the 747's currently being retired?
Goal of the hijackers
The hijackers wanted to fly to Cyprus and Israel. They belonged to ANO (Abu Nidal Organization, a terrorist organization). They wanted to free their colleagues from prison. They planned to hijack Pan Am 73 to get there and gather them. They had with them guns and grenades. They forced the passengers to come to the middle of the airplane.
Failure of their plans
The hijackers wanted to take control of the airplane. One of them rushed to the cockpit. Neerja Bhanot, the head flight attendant on the airplane already warned the pilots by giving them a hijack signal. This played a major part of the failure of their plans. The cockpit crew escaped from an emergency exit at the top of the cockpit (called an Inertial Reel Escape Device). The escape of the pilots meant that the plane was going nowhere.
Demands of the hijackers
The hijackers demanded for pilots onboard the plane as the pilots escaped. They threatened to kill innocents onboard if pilots hadn't come in 30 minutes. They also wanted to collect all of the passenger's passports to separate Americans from others.
Escape of the passengers
At about 17 hours of the hijack, the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) went off due to exhaustion of fuel. As a result, the power went off. The light went off and only the emergency lights stood on. The hijackers started to fire randomly everywhere. The emergency exits were opened by the flight attendants and most of the passengers escaped.
Heroism of Neerja Bhanot
The lead flight attendant of Pan Am 73 was Neerja Bhanot. She managed to warm the pilots in the event of the hijack. She also stood out to disembark at the last saving all the passengers. She was killed in ammunition by the hijackers when she was trying to save young children shielding them. She received the Ashok Chakra Award for her bravery. She is the youngest and the first female recipient of this award.
Arrest of the hijackers
The Jinnah International Airport authorities called in the commandoes of the Pakistan Army to handle the situation. After all the passengers escaped, they were captures and were sentenced to death in Pakistan. It was later reduced to life imprisonment.
Film inspired by this event
'Neerja' is a film which is dedicated to this event. It highlight the various occurrences that happened during this event.
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