A Pan Am Flight was scheduled to fly from Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Rome to Iran through Beirut, Lebanon.
As the flight was about to take off, a group of Arab militants made their way to the terminal and began shooting and firing grenades at the flight
The crew attempted to evacuate as many passengers as possible through the available exit, but 21 passengers aboard the plane died
Always look back before going forward, they say.
So, we turn the pages of The Hindu’s archives to look back at history.
An article that appeared in The Hindu on December 18, 1973 says
Arab guerillas set plane ablaze, kill 21
The guerrillas also hijacked a Lufthansa Boeing 737 parked nearby in which they reportedly herded Italian hostages
The terrorists first flew to Greece to demand the release of two Palestinians who were in prison there over an airport attack
After 16 hours on the ground in Athens and failed negotiations, the plane took off again
Both Lebanon and Cyprus refused to allow the jetliner to land, and the terrorists finally ordered it to be put down at Damascus, where the flight was refuelled
The 30-hour guerilla operation ended after the Arab hijackers surrendered in Kuwait and the hostages were freed The hijackers claimed they were from Palestine and raised their hands in a V- victory sign after surrendering
The Palestine Liberation Organization, however, said the attack served the enemies of the Palestine cause.
Such instances of air hijacking used to be common till 2001 with an average of more than 20 cases being reported every year. However, of late number of hijacking cases have dropped with the tightening of security checks at airports
Production : Gayatri Menon
Research : Gayatri Menon & Murali N Krishnaswamy
Archive Photo courtesy : Dinesh Krishnan & Akhila Easwaran
Voiceover: Sharmada Venkatasubramanian
