Pan Am Flight 73

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Pan Am Flight 73 was hijacked on September 5, 1986, by four armed men of the Abu Nidal organization. The Boeing 747 with 379 on board was preparing to depart Karachi International Airport in Pakistan for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, New York. At least 20 died during the hijacking, including citizens of the United States , Pakistan, India and Mexico and over 120 were wounded in the assault. The incident began as passengers boarded the aircraft for the flight which had originated in Mumbai, India, and was scheduled to fly to Frankfurt, Germany and then to New York. 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 a hatch in the cockpit, effectively grounding the aircraft.

During the following 16 hours, Zayd Hassan Safarini, the Jordanian leader of the hijackers, demanded the return of the flight crew to fly the aircraft to Larnaca, Cyprus, where he wanted to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners being detained in Cyprus. During negotiations between Safarini and Pakistani authorities, Safarini threatened to kill all passengers.

After seizing control of the aircraft, Safarini ordered the flight attendants to collect the passports from passengers. The flight attendants complied, but risking their own lives, they surreptitiously declined to collect some of the United States passports and hid other United States passports from the hijackers. After the passports had been collected, Safarini walked through the cabin, asking passengers about their nationalities. When he arrived at the seat of Rajesh Kumar, a 29-year-old California resident who had recently been naturalized as an American citizen, Safarini ordered Kumar to go to the front doorway of the aircraft and to kneel with his hands behind his head.

At about 10:00 a.m., Safarini became angry about the delay in the arrival of a new flight crew and he threatened to shoot Kumar if something was not done within 15 minutes. Shortly thereafter he shot Kumar in the head and pushed him out the door onto the tarmac below. Pakistani personnel on the tarmac reported that Kumar was still breathing when he was placed in an ambulance, but he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a hospital in Karachi.

As nightfall arrived, the lights on the aircraft began to dim and flicker, due to a mechanical failure. At Safarini's instruction, the hijackers herded the passengers and crew members into the center section of the aircraft. Safarini and another hijacker positioned themselves in front of passengers in the right and left aisles, while the other hijackers positioned themselves behind the crowd of passengers and crew in the right and left aisles. On Safarini's signal, after the hijackers recited a martyrdom prayer in Arabic, and after the lights on the aircraft had gone out, the four hijackers opened fire on the passengers and crew, and threw grenades among them. At least 20 passengers and crew died during this assault and scores were injured. Most of the survivors escaped through two doors of the plane which were forced open when the firing began. Many passengers and crew were forced to jump from the wing of the aircraft onto the tarmac.

Killed in the incident were Rajesh Kumar, 29, and Surendra Manubhai Patel, 50 (both from USA); Jose Alvarez Lamar Nunez, 57, and Ricardo Munoz Rosales, 28 (both from Mexico); Syed Nesar Ahmad, 43, Imran Rizvi, 17, and Meherjee Minocher Kharas, 28 (all from Pakistan); and from India, Kuverben Patel, 81, Kala Singh, 36, Seetharamiah Krishnaswamy, 61, Trupti Dalal, 28, Krishna Kumari Gadde, 28, Neerja Bhanot, 23, Ganapathi Thanikaimoni, 48, Boby Thomachen Mulloor, 7, Thomachen Thomas Mulloor, 30, Aleyamma Scaria Nagatholy, 39, Ramakant Naik, 55, Rupal Desai, 26, and Kodiyattu K. Kurian, 25.

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 in 2004 he was sentenced to a 160 year prison term. 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 foreign terrorist organization. Safarini and the other hijackers were initially prosecuted in Pakistan and convicted of numerous crimes pertaining to the hijacking.

Significant Events

  • September 5, 1986 - Pan Am Flight 73 hijacked in Karachi, Pakistan. Twenty people killed, more than 100 injured.
  • 1988 - Five men convicted in Pakistan for their roles in the hijacking are sentenced to death. These sentences are later commuted to life sentences.
  • August 29, 1991 - A 126-count indictment is returned under seal (i.e., in secret) by a grand jury in the District of Columbia.
  • November 1991 - The Justice Department issues an indictment against two Libyan intelligence agents who were responsible for the bombing of Pan Am 103. During the press briefing of the Pan Am 103 indictment, the U.S. State Department releases a white paper titled "Libya's Continuing Responsibility for Terrorism" in which it states that "Libya provided financial and logistic support to the Abu Nidal Organization hijacking of Pan Am Flight 073 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."
  • Early 2000 - Officials in Pakistan begin making public statements that the jail terms of the hijackers will soon expire.
  • June 19, 2000 - The federal court in the District of Columbia grants the government's request to unseal the indictment, thereby making public the pending criminal charges in the United States.
  • September 28, 2001 - Zaid Hassan Abd Latif Safarini is arrested by the FBI shortly after release from jail by Pakistan. The four other hijackers remain in jail in Pakistan.
  • October 1, 2001 - Safarini appears before a federal judge in Anchorage, Alaska, and is ordered to be held and transported to the District of Columbia to face charges pending against him.
  • October 2, 2001 - Safarini is arraigned before Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in the District of Columbia and pleads not guilty to each of the counts in the indictment. Safarini is held in prison pending trial.
  • November 7, 2001 - The Court finds that, due to the complexity of the case, it would be unreasonable to expect the parties to prepare for trial within the time limits established by the Speedy Trial Act (usually 70 days). The Court finds that the ends of justice will be served by allowing the parties additional time to prepare for trial. Similar findings are made by the Court on May 3, 2002, and again on November 1, 2002.
  • August 28, 2002 - A 95-count superseding indictment is returned by a grand jury in the District of Columbia, charging Safarini and four co-defendants. These charges will serve as the basis for the upcoming criminal trial of defendant Safarini.
  • March 28, 2004 - Days after British Prime Minister Tony Blair's state visit to Tripoli, The Sunday Times (London) reveals that Moammar Qadhafi and the Libyan government was behind the Pan Am 73 attack which was carried out in retaliation for the U.S. bombing of Tripoli and Bengazi in April 1986.
  • May 13, 2004 - Safarini is sentenced to 160 years in prison by Judge Sullivan who recommended he serve his time in the super maximum facility, ADX Florence, Colorado, federal correctional institute.
  • June 2004 - A volunteer group of families and victims from the incident, Families from Pan Am Flight 73 (panam73-at-hotmail-dot-com), is 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.
  • July 2004 - Pakistani media reports that one of the hijackers in Adiala jail, Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim al-Fahid, has confirmed the Sunday Times story (via his counsel Saleem Sheikh, advocate of the Supreme Court) and that Qadhafi "masterminded the attack" and "he has taken the responsibility of executing the hijacking at the behest of Col. Qadhafi."
  • September 20, 2004 - The U.S. State Department lifts trade sanctions against Libya and allows a diplomatic liaison office to be established in Washington, D.C.
  • April 5, 2006 - Representing the surviving passengers, estates and family members of the hijacking victims, the law firm of Crowell & Moring LLP announced it is 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 Qadhafi and the five convicted hijackers. The lawsuit alleges 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.
  • April 21, 2006 - The United States Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, presents a 'Special Courage Award' to all 16 flight attendants and the Pan Am Director in Karachi for their bravey and heroic deeds on September 5, 1986, that averted a much greater tragedy.
  • May 15, 2006 - The United States Department of State announces that it proposes to restore full diplomatic relations with Libya and remove it from the list of state sponsors of terror. As part of these normalization announcements, it reiterates its press release from September 2004 that stated "the action protects the interests of American victims of Libyan terrorism.... Libya has reaffirmed to us that it has a policy of carrying out agreed-upon settlements and responding in good faith to legal cases, and we will hold it to that assurance." As of June 2006, none of the pending civil suits against Libya in U.S. courts have settled.
  • June 7, 2006 - The United States Senate unanimously passes S. Res. 504 in response to the Government's annoucement to restore full diplomatic relations with Libya and states that "it remains an important priority for further improvement in the relations between the United States and Libya that the Government of Libya make a good faith effort to resolve all outstanding claims of United States victims of terrorism sponsored or supported by Libya."

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

For more details about the civil suit see—

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

For more details about the awards presented to the Pan Am 73 flight attendants and director see—

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