Pan Am 73 was a scheduled flight between Bombay and New York via Karachi and Frankfurt, operated by the US airline Pan Am. On 05th September 1986, around 6 AM in the morning, half an hour after the aircraft had landed in Karachi, four heavily armed terrorists belonging to the dreaded Palestinian Abu Nidal Organization stormed the aircraft while it was still on the ground. One of the cabin crew managed to alert the flight crew members in the cockpit about the hijack through the intercom. Consequently, adhering to the Standard Operating Procedures which was set in place by the airline Pan Am, the three flight crew escaped from the aircraft using an emergency hatch. This immobilized the aircraft. The hijackers demanded that the flight crew return so that the aircraft could be flown to Larnaca in Cyprus where they planned to negotiate the release of some dreaded Palestinian terrorists detained in local jails. Angered at the delay in meeting their demands, the hijackers mercilessly shot an American passenger dead and dumped his body on the tarmac. As nightfall set in, the lights in the aircraft cabin flickered out. The hijackers which had herded all the passengers into the Economy cabin lobbed grenades and started shooting at the passengers with their automatic weapons till their ammunition died out. In the ensuing carnage, 20 passengers and crew, including senior flight purser Neerja Bhanot lost their lives. Neerja Bhanot was awarded India’s highest peace time bravery award the Ashoka Chakra. She was also honored by Pakistan and US governments. The 2016 movie Neerja was inspired by her life and heroism.

Rajeev Soman

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