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Topics: Africa, Travel, Terrorism, World News, Crime
Gerrard Kaonga
Topics: Africa, Travel, Terrorism, World News, Crime
In what was likely one of the most terrifying moments of their lives, a pilot defiantly took action to save lives while in the midst of an intense hijacking.
Passengers on a flight that was intended to travel from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Nairobi, Kenya, on November 23, 1996, found themselves in a horrifying situation.
20 minutes after takeoff, three hijackers attempted to take over the flight, with one of them standing up and sprinting up the aisle to the cockpit before being followed by the other two.
As they ran, one of the men was heard saying: "Everybody should be seated, I have a bomb."
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An incident report on the hijacking stated that the hijackers were wielding a fire axe and a fire extinguisher. They demanded a course change to Australia after getting into the cockpit and speaking to the pilot.
The pilot attempted to reason with them, insisting that the plane simply didn’t have the fuel to make such a journey. He even suggested refueling in Mombasa, Kenya, but the hijackers refused.
Tragically, as the tense standoff ensued and the aircraft's fuel supply eventually ran out, the aircraft crashed into the Indian Ocean near the Comoros Islands.
The impact destroyed the plane upon contact with a reef and a total of 125 people on the flight, including six crew members and three hijackers were killed. 38 people on the flight were left with severe injuries and remarkably two passengers sustained minor injuries with four emerging from the wreckage unharmed.
During the hijacking, the black box managed to capture the defiant pilots words and his ongoing attempts to save the lives of those onboard.
The pilot was 42-year-old Captain Leul Abtate and he even attempted to issue a calming message to those on board.
He said: "Ladies and gentlemen this is your pilot, we have run out of fuel and we are losing one engine this time, and we are expecting crash landing and that is all I have to say. We have lost already one engine, and I ask all passengers to react ..... to the hijackers ...."
When both engines failed, the hijackers ordered Abtate not to touch the controls or they would kill him,
He replied: "I am already dead because I am flying an airplane without engine power.”
Despite their objections, the pilot continued to take action, at one point saying: “I am not to be told where to be killed. I am a dead man handling an aircraft without fuel.”
“For the sake of my responsibility, at least the passengers must know the condition,”
Despite the significant loss of life, the crash has been looked back on as partially successful by experts as the pilot’s efforts resulted in some people surviving.