The 1986 Hijacking Of Pan Am Flight 73 That Ended With 20 Dead And Hundreds More Injured

On the morning of 5 September 1986, what should have been a routine stopover at Karachi Airport turned into one of the deadliest hijackings in aviation history. Pan Am Flight 73, a Boeing 747 travelling from Bombay (now Mumbai) to New York with scheduled stops in Karachi and Frankfurt, was stormed by armed men posing as airport security.

The hijackers were members of the Abu Nidal Organisation, a Palestinian militant group notorious in the 1970s and 80s for international attacks. Their aim was chilling: to seize the plane, bargain for the release of Palestinian prisoners, and, if negotiations failed, inflict maximum casualties.

Instead, what unfolded was a 16-hour ordeal of terror, heroism, and tragic loss that left more than 20 passengers dead and hundreds traumatised.

The crew of Pan Am Flight 73.

Setting the Scene

By the mid-1980s, international terrorism often intersected with commercial aviation. Hijackings had become a brutal tactic for militant groups to demand concessions or make political statements. Airlines were targeted because they offered high-profile publicity and leverage against governments.

Pan Am Flight 73 was caught in this climate. The aircraft, nicknamed Clipper Empress of the Seas, had already flown in from Bombay and was sitting on the tarmac in Karachi at 4:30 a.m. A fresh set of passengers was boarding when the attackers made their move.

The Hijackers’ Disguise

The four men arrived in a van that had been modified to look like an airport security vehicle. It even had a siren and flashing lights. Dressed as security guards, armed with AK-47 rifles, pistols, grenades, and explosives strapped to their bodies, they marched straight up to the Boeing 747.

Their entry was violent and swift. Shots were fired into the air, panicked ground staff scattered, and two Kuwait Airways employees nearby were killed by stray gunfire. Inside the cabin, flight attendants were forced at gunpoint to shut the doors, trapping hundreds of passengers inside.

But one crucial move happened in those first minutes: Senior Purser Neerja Bhanot quietly relayed the hijack code to the cockpit crew. Realising the gravity of the situation, the American pilots and flight engineer escaped through an overhead hatch, leaving the hijackers without anyone to fly the plane.

This single act immobilised the aircraft and set the stage for a tense standoff.

A Cabin Held Hostage

With the cockpit empty, the hijackers were forced to deal directly with negotiators on the ground. They herded passengers from front to back and back to front, cramming people into aisles and galley areas.

At around 10 a.m., the lead hijacker, Zayd Hassan Abd al-Latif Safarini, tried to prove his seriousness. He singled out 29-year-old Rajesh Kumar, an Indian-American newly naturalised as a U.S. citizen. Dragged to the doorway, Kumar was executed in full view of passengers and airport staff outside. His body was dumped on the tarmac.

It was a horrific warning. The hijackers demanded that the cockpit crew be returned to the aircraft, but with the pilots long gone, officials stalled for time.

Flight attendant Neerja Bhanot, who was shot dead.

Hidden Passports and Small Acts of Defiance

Throughout the day, flight attendants were ordered to collect passports. The hijackers appeared intent on identifying American citizens, but the crew quietly worked against them. Neerja Bhanot and her colleagues Sunshine Vesuwala and Madhvi Bahuguna slipped American passports under seats and even down rubbish chutes.

One British passenger, mountaineer Michael Thexton, was called forward at one point. He later recalled that the hijacker quizzed him about his background, asked if he was married, and surprisingly spared him. Years later, Thexton learned that the man had shown him mercy because of his story about losing his brother and not wanting his mother to lose another child.

These moments revealed both the randomness of survival and the courage of those who quietly resisted.

The Night Turns Deadly

As night fell, the situation grew more desperate. At around 9 p.m., the plane lost power and was plunged into darkness. The hijackers panicked, fearing a raid was imminent. In their frenzy, they opened fire indiscriminately inside the cabin and hurled grenades.

The confined space of the 747 turned every bullet into deadly shrapnel as it ricocheted off walls and ceilings. Passengers screamed, ducked, and tried to shield one another.

In the chaos, some flight attendants managed to open emergency exits. Passengers leapt 20 feet to the tarmac, while one armed slide at the R4 door became a vital escape route. Neerja Bhanot, true to her role as purser, helped as many people as possible escape before she was fatally shot while shielding children from gunfire.

By the time Pakistani commandos stormed the aircraft, much of the carnage had already taken place.

The injured victims being evacuated to a U.S. military hospital in Germany.

The Human Cost

More than 20 people were killed, and around 150 were injured. The victims came from a range of nationalities including India, the United States, Pakistan, and Mexico.

India suffered particularly heavily, with citizens making up over a quarter of those on board and a significant portion of the dead.

Neerja Bhanot’s sacrifice became a defining story of the hijacking. Just 22 years old, she was posthumously awarded multiple honours, including India’s highest peacetime bravery award, the Ashok Chakra, and Pakistan’s Tamgha-e-Pakistan and Nishan-e-Pakistan for her courage.

The Hijackers’ Fate

All five identified hijackers were captured by Pakistani authorities. In 1988 they were sentenced to death, though these sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment.

In a twist, Zayd Hassan Abd al-Latif Safarini was eventually extradited to the United States in 2001, where he pleaded guilty and received a 160-year prison sentence. The other four men were released to Palestinian custody in 2008, sparking outrage among survivors and victims’ families.

The FBI later issued $5 million rewards for their capture, and one of them, Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim, was reported killed in a drone strike in 2010, though his death has never been officially confirmed.

The bloodstained shoes of injured or dead passengers at Karachi airport on Sept. 7, 1986.

Allegations of Libyan Involvement

Much like the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988, Libya was accused of being behind the attack. Lawsuits were filed in the U.S. by survivors and families of victims, alleging that Muammar Gaddafi’s regime had provided support to the Abu Nidal Organisation.

Libya eventually settled other terrorism cases, but its role in Pan Am 73 has never been officially acknowledged. The legal battles for compensation, particularly for Indian families, dragged on for decades.

Legacy and Memory

For those who survived, the hijacking left lifelong scars. Many passengers suffered physical injuries and psychological trauma that never fully healed. The multinational nature of the flight meant that the tragedy rippled across continents, touching communities from India to the U.S. to Europe.

The bravery of crew members, particularly Neerja Bhanot, is still remembered. In 2016, Bollywood released Neerja, a film that brought her story to a wider audience and highlighted her sacrifice.

Even decades later, the case remains partly unresolved. The FBI continues to keep some of the hijackers on its Most Wanted Terrorists list, releasing age-progressed photos in hopes of capturing them.

Why Pan Am Flight 73 Matters Today

The Pan Am Flight 73 hijacking is more than just a tragic story from the 1980s. It highlights the vulnerabilities of civil aviation in the face of terrorism, the importance of quick thinking by airline crew, and the devastating consequences when political conflicts spill into everyday lives.

It’s also a reminder of extraordinary bravery. As one survivor later said:

“In the darkest hours of our lives, it was the courage of ordinary people like Neerja that gave us hope.”

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