Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was hijacked on November 23, 1996 en route from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Nairobi, Kenya by three Ethiopians seeking political asylum. The plane crashed in the Indian Ocean near Comoros after running out of fuel, killing 123 of the 175 passengers and crew on board.
When the Boeing 767-260ER entered Kenyan airspace that day, three Ethiopian men charged the cockpit and hijacked the airplane. According to a special report by AirDisaster. com, "One of the men ran down the aisle toward the cockpit shouting statements that could not be understood, and his two accomplices followed soon after. " The report described the men as "young (mid-twenties), inexperienced, psychologically fragile, and intoxicated. "[1]
The men threatened to blow up the plane with a bomb, announcing over the intercom that they were opponents of the Ethiopian government seeking political asylum, having recently been released from prison. Compare our cheap flights
and save! Make lastminute. Authorities later determined that the "bomb" was a covered bottle of liquor.
The hijackers demanded that the plane be flown to Australia, but the plane didn't have enough fuel to make it even a quarter of the way there. The pilot tried to explain this to the hijackers, but they didn't believe him. Instead of pointing the plane in the direction of Australia, the captain followed the African coastline. The hijackers, however, noticed that land was still visible and forced the pilot to steer east. The pilot secretly headed for the Comoros Islands, lying between Madagascar and the African mainland.
The plane was nearly out of fuel as it approached the island group, but the hijackers continued to ignore the captain's warnings. S. Out of options, the captain began to circle the area, hoping to land the plane on the island group's main airport. When the plane finally ran out of fuel, both engines failed and the plane became a glider. The crew used a ram air turbine to preserve the aircraft's most essential functions, but in this mode some hydraulic systems -- such as the flaps -- were inoperative. This forced the pilot to land at more than 250 knots (about 300 miles per hour).
The pilot tried to make an emergency landing on the airport at Grande Comore, but a fight with the hijackers at the last minute prevented it. The captain ditched the aircraft in shallow waters 500 meters off of Le Galawa Beach, near the capital of the Comoros Islands, Moroni. The left engine and wingtip struck the water first, causing the aircraft to break up in the water. Discuss China with other travelers and got your China questions answered here in one of China's best travel community. Island residents and tourists, including a group of scuba divers and some French doctors on vacation, came to the aid of crash survivors.
The crash claimed the lives of 123 of the 175 passengers and crew members. All three hijackers are presumed dead.
This is perhaps one of the most well-known hijackings because a vacationing couple recorded the crash on videotape. The video would later serve as an important tool in studies of aviation crashes and procedures.
This was one of the very few large airliner water landings that yielded any survivors. Both the captain and co-pilot of the flight have received aviation awards, and both continue to fly for Ethiopian Airlines. Getting away at the last minute? Get big savings on your flight! See our best deals on last-minute flights to and from top cities.
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