IC-814 -- The Seventh longest hijacking

IC-814 -- The Seventh longest hijacking
UNITED NEWS OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 31: The eight-day-long hijacking drama of the Indian AIrlines plane IC-814 finally ended on Friday making it the seventh longest hijacking incident in the world.

Three dread militants - Moulana Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Sayeed - have been released to free the 155 passengers on board the flight.

The longest hijacking case was of an El Al Flight to Algiers on July 23, 1968 which lasted for 40 days till September 1, 1968. The plane had been commandeered by members of the popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.The second longest airjack lasted for 24 days on September 6, 1970 when three planes - from Britain, Switzerland and the United States - with a total of about 400 people aboard were hijacked to Zarca in the Jordanian desert by members of the same Palestine front. The Front blew up the planes after setting free all the passengers and crew in exchange for the seven Palestinian prisoners who were in the jails of the three countries and Israel.

Thehijacking of a TWA Boeing 727 on June 14, 1985, lasted 18 days. Shia gunmen commandeered the plane to Beirut, Lebanon, demanding the release of 700 Arabs held by Israel. Syrian mediation brought an end to the crisis on July 1, 1985.

The June 14-30, 1985 hijack episode also involved a TWA Boeing 727 on a flight from Athens to Rome. The plane, with 153 people on board, was taken to Beirut by three Lebanese Shia Muslim militants demanding the release of more than 750 Lebanese and Palestinians held in Israel. The crisis ended after Israel released 31 prisoners. Then comes, the 16-day-long ordeal of the passengers of a Bangkok-Kuwait flight of Kuwait Airways which was hijacked by Shia gunmen, demanding the release of 17 pro-Iranian terrorists. The sixth longest crisis lasted 13 days after three Pakistan nationals diverted a Karachi-Peshawar flight of Pakistan International Airlines to Syria. The passengers were set free after Pak agreed to release 54 prisoners.

Another hijack drama which lasted eight days tookplace between June 27, 1976 and July 4, 1976. An Air France airliner was hijacked by Palestinian and German terrorists demanding the release of 53 pro-Palestinian prisoners. The passengers were rescued by Israeli commandos who stormed the plane.