In my last post I have written about my adventure in the sky. IA Lucknow- Delhi flight IC 436 was hijacked by 4 college student with 59 passengers on board. The student hijackers were demanding postponement of examination, grant of more funds to their college, investigation of corruption charge against the Principle of the college and introduction of postgraduate course. All the passengers were in the grip of extreme fear except for the army gents. Due to the inebriated condition of one of the defence personnel, who was restless and kept getting up to catch the hijackers and every time the fellow passengers would push him back into his seat.
Suddenly the plane started losing height and there was panic in the aircraft. I was sure that doomsday had arrived. Calm prevailed only when the plane stabilized. “Ladies and gentlemen, the plane lost height due to the air pocket, nothing to worry. .Governor of UP has agreed to meet the students and we have been given clearance to land at the Amausi airport at Lucknow.” It was the voice of the captain over the PA system. And amid fervent prayers the plane finally landed at the airport.
When I looked outside it was a scene straight from a James
Bond movie, gun toting policemen, red and blue siren lights on the vehicles
surrounding the plane? Everyone was waiting nervously, with bated breath for
the doors to be opened. Nobody on board realized that due to the
hijack protocol the plane was not allowed to taxi towards the terminal building
and was parked far off from the main parking bay.
The hijacked flight (Illustration purpose only) |
Calm prevailed only when the plane stabilized..... |
Fire Engines approaching the hijacked aircraft |
Plane off main parking bay. |
Security forces aiming at the aircraft |
I forgot to mention that due to my media profession I managed
to grab the attention of 2 student hijackers during the hold up. So after the
plane had touched down I requested them to allow me to go to the washroom as I
thought it was the safest place in case of crossfire. After consultation with
his colleague one the student hijackers accompanied me to the door of
the toilet which was at the front of the aircraft. I do not know how long I was
inside the toilet until I heard a knock. I realized that holding myself inside
would be an exercise in futile. I unlocked the door and came out.
As I was walking back to my seat things began to happen very fast. The next moment I was on the floor with the hijacker on top of my back and the Army guy on top of him. The small tin box (of Paan Masala) fell out of the hijacker’s hand as he started screaming “plane ko uda do ,koi bachne na pai”(blow the plane. Kill them all). But it was over for the hijackers as the tin box was empty. There was no RDX in it. The hijackers had managed to hijack the plane on ransom on a hoax.
The relieved passengers after the ordeal |
Mean while as this hijacker was being
tackled the other passengers too overpowered the rest and started beating them
mercilessly. The air hostess opened all the doors of the aircraft, and people
in their panic started jumping out of the plane not realizing that they were
high above the ground, at least 20 feet. A lot of people got injured due to the
fall. I jumped out onto the wing of the plane and the next moment I
landed on the tarmac. I could see the policemen aiming their gun at every
person who jumped out of the plane, till we told them that the hijackers had
been overpowered and were still in the plane.
Back in the Sky |
The over powered hijackers were picked up by the police and we all sat in the
airline surface transport to return back to the main airport building. Later on
the flight IC 436 was once again rescheduled for departure. But I avoided
it like the plague. I came back home and took the night Train to Delhi.
To
the best of my knowledge this was the only hijacked flight in the world,
wherein the hijackers were overpowered by the passengers of course led by the
high spirited army personnel.
aaah..... i remember this incident very vividly..... u had spoken about this in detail to us in the offc, whn the 26/11 terror attack had haapen...
ReplyDeleteArchana Johri commented on the link via facebook
ReplyDeleteArchana wrote: "Thank God..............All is well if end is well.....thank GOD."
Durlabh Sanskar Maharishi commented on the link via Facebook
ReplyDeleteDurlabh wrote: "Mama thank you so much for sharing this. It is always a pleasure to read your interesting experiences of life and living."
Swati Garg commented on the link via facebook
ReplyDeleteSwati wrote: "After reading through the first part, I couldn't avoid reading through this one... Great piece that absolutely shows your vivid experiences."
Yikes!
ReplyDeleteNice and interesting information and informative too.
ReplyDeleteCan you please let me know the good attraction places we can visit: Delhi To Lucknow Flight