Pan Am Flight 73

Pan Am Flight 73

Hijacking summary
Date	September 5, 1986
Type	Hijacking
Site	Karachi, Pakistan
Passengers	360
Crew	19
Injuries	120
Fatalities	20
Survivors	359
Aircraft type	Boeing 747-121
Aircraft name	Clipper Empress of the Seas
Operator	Pan American World Airways
Tail number	N656PA
Flight origin	Sahar International Airport, Mumbai, India
Stopover	Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, Pakistan
Last stopover	Frankfurt am Main Airport, Frankfurt am Main, West Germany
Destination	John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, United States

Boeing 747-100 Clipper Neptune's Car (N742PA) at Zürich Airport

Pan Am Flight 73, a Pan American World Airways Boeing 747-121, was hijacked on September 5, 1986, while on the ground at Karachi, Pakistan, by four armed men of the Abu Nidal Organization. The aircraft, with 360 on board, had just arrived from Sahar International Airport in Bombay, India and was preparing to depart Jinnah International Airport in Karachi for Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany, ultimately continuing on to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States.

Twenty of the passengers were killed during the hijacking, of which 13 were from India and the rest were from United States, Pakistan and Mexico. All the hijackers were arrested and sentenced to death in Pakistan. However, the sentences were later commuted to life in prison against the wishes of the United States and India.

Hijacking at Karachi, Pakistan

The incident began as passengers boarded the Frankfurt-bound aircraft in Karachi. A subsequent FBI investigation revealed that the hijack occurred despite the presence of armed agents near the aircraft. The four hijackers were dressed as Karachi airport security guards and were armed with assault rifles, pistols, grenades, and plastic explosive belts. At about 06:00 a.m. local time, the hijackers drove a van that had been modified to look like an airport security vehicle through a security checkpoint up to one of the boarding stairways to Pan Am Flight 73.

The hijackers stormed up the stairways into the plane, fired shots from an automatic weapon, and seized control of the aircraft. Flight attendants were able to alert the cockpit crew using intercom, allowing the pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer to escape through an overhead hatch in the cockpit, effectively grounding the aircraft.

Safarini takes control

Within a short time after seizing control of the aircraft, Zayd Safarini had realized that the crew had escaped off the plane so was therefore made to set a deal with the officials and ordered all passengers to keep their hands up in the air. First and business class passengers were ordered to go towards the back of the plane. At the same time, passengers at the back of the plane were ordered forward. Since the plane was nearly full, passengers sat down in the aisles, galleys and door exits. At approximately 10:00 a.m., Safarini then went through the plane and he arrived at the seat of Rajesh Kumar, a 29-year-old Indian American California resident who had recently been naturalized as an American citizen, Safarini ordered Mr. Kumar to come to the front of the aircraft, to kneel at the front doorway of the aircraft and to face the front of the aircraft with his hands behind his head. He negotiated with officials in particular a Mr. Viraf Daroga that if the crew wasn't sent on the plane within 15 minutes then Mr. Kumar would be shot. Shortly thereafter, Safarini became impatient with the officials and grabbed Mr. Kumar and shot him in the head in front of witnesses both on and off the aircraft including the head of Pan Am Airlines Pakistan, Viraf Daroga. Safarini then heaved Mr. Kumar out of the door onto the tarmac below. Pakistan personnel on the tarmac reported that Mr. Kumar was still breathing when he was placed in an ambulance, but he was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital in Karachi.

Safarini then joined the hijackers and ordered the flight attendants to collect the passports of all passengers. The flight attendants complied with this request but, risking their own lives. During the collection of the passports, one clever and brave stewardess, Neerja Bhanot, the senior flight purser had thought that the American passports would be the ones they would single out and she decided to hide some under a seat and the rest of the American passports were dumped down a trash chute.

After the passports had been collected one of the crew members came onto the intercom and asked for a Mr. Michael John Thexton a British citizen to come to the front of the plane. He then went through the curtain into the front of the plane where he came face to face with Safarini who was holding Mr. Thexton's passport. He then asked Mr. Thexton if he was a soldier and if he had a gun, Mr. Thexton replied "No". He then ordered Mr. Thexton onto his knees. Safarini then told the officials that if anyone came near the plane that he would go on to kill another passenger. Mr. Viraf Daroga then told Safarini that there was a crew member on board that was able to use the cockpit radio and asked him to negotiate through radio. Safarini then went back to Mr. Thexton and asked him whether he would like a drink of water, Mr. Thexton repiled "Yes" Safarini also asked Mr. Thexton if he was married and claimed he did not like all this violence and killing and said that the Americans and Israel had taken over his country and was unable to lead a proper life.

Then one of the hijackers ordered Mr. Thexton back through the plane to a seat. The hijack stalemate continued on into the night. During the stalemate, one of the passengers in the number 3 door area discovered an airplane manual that explained all the procedures the cabin crew needed to know, including information on how to open the exit door and deploy the slide down to the apron. This book was passed around so all passengers in the door area knew exactly what to do to make sure the slide extended when the door was opened. About nine PM the main power system shut down, all lighting turned off, and emergency lights came on. Passengers at the front were order toward the back, while passengers at the back were ordered forward. Since the aisles were already full of passengers, those passengers standing just sat down.

With the plane out of power and sitting in near darkness a hijacker threw a grenade and then all hijackers started random shooting into the passengers. Passengers in the door 3 area immediately opened door 3 and extended the chute and started exiting the plane.Neerja Bhanot the senior flight purser, flung a chute and assisted a number of passengers escape from the flight, while she laid down her life shielding three children from the bullets fired by the terrorists. 20 passengers were killed and over a hundred were injured, but many escaped the ordeal including Mr. Michael John Thexton who came close to death a few hours before and returned to the U.K. and now helps train professional hostage negotiators. The hijackers were arrested in the terminal trying to get away from the airport. Mr. Viraf Daroga head of Pan Am Airlines Pakistan stayed on at the airline, but now works for American Airlines in Pakistan.

Assault

The ISI had learnt that U.S. Special Operation Forces's Delta Force was planning to launch an assault to liberate the airliner from the attackers. Pakistan quickly negotiated with the United States, and SSG Division and Army Rangers were put on high-alert. The situation came to an end when hijackers opened fire on the passengers aboard the plane. Passengers fled the aircraft through emergency exits, and Pakistani commandos responded to the gunfire by storming the plane. The crack commando unit was headed by Brigadier-General T.M Shah. The Shaheen Company of the 1st Battalion of the Pakistan Army's Special Service Group (SSG), were employed to carry out the operation. Casualties were heavy, with twenty-two dead and more than 150 injured.

Victims

Killed in the incident were:

12 Indians

• Neerja Bhanot, 22
• Trupti Dalal, 36
• Rupal Desai, 26
• Krishna Kumari Gadde, 28
• Seetharamiah Krishnaswamy, 61
• Kodiyattu K. Kurian, 25
• Boby Thomachen Mulloor, 7
• Thomachen Thomas Mulloor, 30
• Aleyamma Scaria Nagatholy, 39
• Ramakant Naik, 55
• Kuverben Patel, 81
• Ganapathi Thanikaimoni, 48
• Adel zalat, 34

3 Pakistanis

• Syed Nesar Ahmad, 43
• Meherjee Minocher Kharas, 28
• Imran Rizvi, 17

3 Americans

• Rajesh Kumar, 29
• Surendra Manubhai Patel, 50
• Kala Singh, 36

2 Mexicans

• José Álvarez Lamar Nuñez, 57
• Ricardo Muñoz Rosales, 28

Most of the passengers and crew were from India, while the rest were mainly from Germany, Italy and 10 other countries including 18 Americans.

The American Memorial Site has a web page dedicated to the victims of Pan Am Flight 73.

Nationalities

Nationality	Passengers	Crew	Total
Algeria	3	-	3
Belgium	2	-	2
Canada	30	-	30
Denmark	8	-	8
France	4	1	5
Germany	81	3	84
India	91	8	99
Ireland	5	-	5
Italy	50	2	52
Mexico	8	-	8
Pakistan	44	-	44
Sweden	2	-	2
United Kingdom	15	4	19
United States	18	1	19
Total	360	19	379

Sentencing

On July 6, 1988, five men were convicted of their roles in the hijacking and sentenced to death, but the sentences were later commuted to life in prison. On September 28, 2001, Zayd Hassan Abd Al-Latif Masud Al Safarini was captured by the FBI in Bangkok after he was released in Pakistan and was on his way back to Jordan. He was taken to the United States where on May 13, 2004 he was sentenced to a 160-year prison term at ADX Florence in Colorado. At the plea proceeding, Safarini admitted that he and his fellow hijackers committed the offenses as members of the Abu Nidal Organization, also called the ANO, a terrorist organization. Safarini and the other hijackers were initially prosecuted in Pakistan and convicted of numerous crimes pertaining to the hijacking.

In 1988, a secret message written on cigarette packets and foils was delivered to Pakistani journalist Masror Hausen of The Muslim, who covered the trial. The hijackers revealed the true motive behind hijacking was: "to fill up the aircraft with explosives and hit the Israeli defence ministry, using the aircraft as a missile..."^{[citation needed]}

On January 4, 2008 the Associated Press reported that the four hijackers in Adiala Jail - Mohammed Abdul Khalil Hussain, Daud Mohammed Hafiz, Mohammed Ahmed al-Munawar and Jamal Saeed, were set free by the Pakistani Authorities and deported to the Palestinian territories.^{[citation needed]}

Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim who was allegedly involved in hijacking was reported killed in drone strike on January 9, 2010 in Pakistan.

Libyan involvement and Legal action

Libya has been accused of sponsoring the hijacking, as well as carrying out the bombings of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 and UTA Flight 772 in 1989. In 1991, a press briefing for an indictment by the U.S. Justice Department over Pan Am 103 said that "Libya provided financial and logistic support to the Abu Nidal Organization hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan" and that "the Libyan People's Bureau in Islamabad assisted at least one of the hijackers by providing him with travel documentation."

In August 2003, Libya accepted responsibility for "the actions of its officials" in respect of both airliner bombings, but was silent on the question of the Pan Am Flight 73 hijacking. Libya offered $2.7 billion USD in compensation to the families of the 270 victims of Pan Am Flight 103 and, in January 2004, agreed to pay $170 million to the families of the 170 UTA victims. The seven American UTA victims' families refused the offer and instead filed a claim for $2.2 billion against Libya. From 2004-2006 the U.S. and UK opened up relations with Libya, including removing sanctions and removing the country as a sponsor of terrorism.

In June 2004, a volunteer group of families and victims from the incident, Families from Pan Am Flight 73, was formed to work toward a memorial for those killed in the incident, to seek the truth behind this terrorist attack, and to hold those responsible for it accountable. On April 5, 2006, the law firm of Crowell & Moring LLP, representing the surviving passengers, estates and family members of the hijacking victims, announced it was filing a civil suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking $10 billion in compensatory damages, plus unspecified punitive damages, from Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi and the five convicted hijackers. The lawsuit alleged Libya provided the Abu Nidal Organization with material support and also ordered the attack as part of a Libyan-sponsored terrorist campaign against American, European and Israeli interests.

British media that was critical of normalisation of relations between Gaddafi and the West reported in March 2004 (days after Prime Minister Tony Blair visited Tripoli) that Libya was behind the hijacking. Pakistani media, as reported by South Asia Tribune, said that one of the hijackers in Adiala jail, Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim al-Fahid, had confirmed the Sunday Times story (via his counsel). Al-Fahid said that the Libyan leader Gaddafi "masterminded the attack" and "he has taken the responsibility of executing the hijacking at the behest of Col. Gaddafi."

Reward and Killing of Accused

On December 3, 2009, the FBI in coordination with the State Department announced a $5M reward for information that leads to the capture of each of the four hijackers of Pan Am 73 who were released from prison. Jamal Saeed Abdul Raheem an alleged suspect involved in hijacking and killing was killed in a suspected US drone strike on January 9, 2010 in North Waziristan Agency, a tribal region of Pakistan. The official sources claim that Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim was killed along with two other foreigners in Ismail Khel village of Dattakhel in North Waziristan Agency.

Aircraft Information

Delivered to Pan Am as Clipper Live Yankee. Later renamed Clipper Empress of the Seas. Finally renamed Clipper New Horizons.

Current Status: Scrapped at Pinal Airpark aircraft boneyard, Marana, Arizona (MZJ), 06/1999.

Aircraft Type: Boeing 747 - 121 Operator: Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) Registration: N656PA Delivery Date: 18 June 1971 Service Dates: 1971 to 1991 Engine Type: Pratt & Whitney P&W JT9D – 3A CN / LN: 20351/127

• Pan Am "Clipper Empress of the Seas" pictures from airliners.net
• Pan Am "Clipper Empress of the Seas" hijack info from planecrashinfo.com
• Pan Am "Clipper Empress of the Seas" info from airfleets.net
• Pan Am "Clipper Empress of the Seas" info from aviation-safety.net
• Pan Am "Clipper Empress of the Seas" info from Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

See also

• 1986 Bombing of Libya
• Pan Am Flight 103
• UTA Flight 772
• Neerja Bhanot

External links

For details about the Pan Am Flight 73 criminal case in Federal Court in D.C. see—

• U.S. Department of Justice Attorney's Office For the District of Columbia Information on court proceedings of Pan Am Flight 73
• U.S. Department of Justice May 13, 2004, press release on the Pan Am Flight 73 criminal case

For more details about the civil suit see—

• Crowell & Moring Pan Am Flight 73 civil suit against Libya, Gaddafi and the five hijackers

• For the book by Mike Thexton about his experience on Pan Am Flight 73, 'What happened to the Hippy Man?', see the book's web page
• Photos of the airliner at airliners.net

News Articles

• Karachi hijack ends in bloodshed bbc.co.uk