Posted on 09/06/2026 12:31:05 PM PDT by DFG
Today, 40 years ago, four armed men hijacked a Mumbai-Frankfurt-New York flight during its stopover in Karachi, triggering a 17-hour hostage crisis. The standoff ended in a bloody commando assault that killed several passengers, including 23-year-old Indian flight attendant Neerja Bhanot, who later came to be known for her extraordinary bravery in saving lives.
Pan Am Flight 73 was a Mumbai-Frankfurt-New York flight carrying 379 passengers and crew when it was hijacked during its stopover in Karachi on September 5, 1986.
The four hijackers had disguised themselves as airport security personnel before storming the aircraft.
Hindustan Times reported the following day that the flight had 13 cabin crew members, including stewards and air hostesses. The newspaper also reported that there were 193 Indians among the passengers.
The cockpit crew escaped
The hijackers' plan to take control of the aircraft was disrupted almost immediately.
According to HT's September 6, 1986 report, one of the cabin crew members alerted the flight deck as the four men entered the aircraft.
The pilot, co-pilot and engineer then escaped through the emergency hatch.
"It is our practice to carry all-Indian cabin crew on our India-Germany routes", a Pan Am official told Hindustan Times.
The escape of the three-member cockpit crew meant the aircraft could not take off.
The hijackers wanted Cyprus
The hijackers demanded that pilots be sent to fly the aircraft to Cyprus.
To press their demand, they shot an Indian American man in the doorway and rolled his body onto the tarmac.
The hijackers also negotiated with officials in the control tower in Arabic, with interpreters being used.
Their leader, who identified himself only as Mustafa, asked for the release of friends in Cyprus prisons, according to the Hindustan Times report.
Deadly 17 hours
The hijacking lasted 17 hours.
During the standoff, the situation inside the aircraft became increasingly violent. The September 6 Hindustan Times report said the hijackers opened fire and that passengers were caught in the crossfire.
Pakistani commandos eventually stormed the aircraft.
At least 15 people were initially reported killed, while around 100 were injured, according to the contemporary report.
The commandos rushed the plane at about 9.40 p.m. The four gunmen threw hand grenades which did not detonate as passengers fled the aircraft in panic.
Two of the hijackers were killed by security forces and the other two were captured, according to the report.
Neerja Bhanot's final act
Among those who died was 23-year-old Indian flight attendant Neerja Bhanot.
Bhanot had helped alert the cockpit crew, allowing them to escape and leaving the aircraft immobilised.
During the final phase of the hijacking, she helped passengers escape. She suffered a bullet wound and died hours later at a hospital.
Her bravery in saving passengers' lives earned her the Ashok Chakra award.
Her story was later told in the 2016 film Neerja.
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The 2016 film Neerja is well worth a watch. Awesome.
A greater love.........
“The four hijackers were identified as Wadoud Muhammad Hafiz al-Turki, Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim, Muhammad Abdullah Khalil Hussain ar-Rahayyal and Muhammad Ahmed al-Munawar.”
no doubt, all four were adherents to the Religion of Peace ...
A hostage airplane situation with dead-ender terrorists with explosives and auto weapons and hundreds of hostages, talk about an impossibly tough nut to crack.
And she’s a babe too.
A brave and beautiful woman. Rest in Peace.
It was not until 911 that I started to believe Islam was evil. Every day after that only reinforced my belief. Having a rotten President who had an Islamic name and was clearly an Islamic sympathizer made me a Mozlem hating fanatic.
Technically, not correct. Bombay was not renamed until 1995, so the flight would have been Bombay-Frankfurt-New York.
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