Hijackers Blow Up Pan American Jumbo Jet

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32396, 8 September 1970, Page 1

Hijackers Blow Up Pan American Jumbo Jet

(NZ.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) CAIRO, September 7. A hijacked Pan American jumbo jet was blown up by time bombs soon after it arrived from Beirut early today and its passengers and crew had disembarked, airport officials said.

The giant airliner made a three-hour refuelling stop at Beirut after being seized over Western Europe yesterday by commandos of the Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

A crew member of the plane said the hijackers had ordered that every one should be off the plane within eight minutes of its landing at Cairo International Airport.

THE SCENE AT HEATHROW AIRPORT after the hijacked El Al Boeing 707, bound for New York, had landed, and passengers being checked by airport police after the plane landed at Heathrow.

There were 174 passengers and 23 crew on board the plane, airport sources said.

A Pan American stewardess. Miss Eileen Longeran, said she was only 150 yards from the aircraft when it exploded. The hijackers had apparently placed nine explosive charges inside the plane timed to go off soon after it touched down. A Pan American flight engineer, Julius Üba, said that five Palestinians had entered the aircraft when it landed in Beirut One of them remained aboard to join two others who had originally hijacked the plane. They said the reason for their action was to protest against American aid to Israel. The hijackers were identified as Mazen Abu Mehana. from Haifa, Samir Abdel Meghid. from Jerusalem, and Ali El Sayed Ali.

The Boeing 747 jet was virtually gutted by the fire after the explosion. It lay at the end of one of the runways with only one wing intact

A small Pan American insignia, still not burned, was the only remaining indication of the identity of the plane. Witnesses said the passengers left the plane by emergency exits as soon as it!

i landed. Only superficial injurI ies from the hurried escape were suffered by passengers. The plane exploded about I one minute after everyone on i board escaped. Passengers I hurled themselves on the sand bordering the runways to escape the blast. Fled Barefooted The passengers were barefooted as they fled from the aircraft having removed their shoes in emergency exit procedure. They remained at Cairo Airport as officials began working out what would be done with them. Airport officials said two persons suffered broken legs and others superficial injuries as the passengers tumbled down emergency exits of the huge jet after the Palestinian hijackers warned them to get out

Mr Donald Bergus, head of the American interests section in Cairo, requested and received permission for the two women passengers who broke their legs to be taken to hospital in Cairo, airport sources said.

A Pan American official said that plans were already under way to get them on alternative flights to their destination.

Airport officials said that during the flight from Beirut

one of the Palestinians addressed the passengers on the Palestinian cause, criticising the United States and saying the Palestinians had been turned into a nation of refugees.

Officials said the passengers included 85 Americans, 12 Australians. 19 Dutch, 30 Turks, one Spanish, four French, one Colombian, two Iranians, two British, 10 Belgians. three Norwegians, four Indians and one Argentinian. The passegers were being kept in the customs area away from reporters. The Egyptian Interior Minister (Mr Sharawy Gomaa) and the Minister of State (Mr Sami Sharaf) went to the airport to start investigations. Arab Commandos held hostage two other western jetliners with 288 passengers to dramatise their aim to liberate Palestine and their implacable opposition to ArabIsraeli peace talks. The commandos also issued 72-hour ultimatums to Britain and Switzerland over Palestine commandos held in the two countries. The Boeing 747 which was blown up was one of four New York-bound airliners, together worth some £2sm and carrying more than 600 persons, involved in the spectacular and unprecedented mass hijack over Western Europe

by men of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Two of the other planes—a Swissair DCB with 143 passengers and an American Trans World Airlines Boeing 707 with 145 passengers were at a secret desert airstrip in North Jordan, where they were forced to land by their captors. Heathrow Landing The fourth plane in the hijack drama was an Israeli El Al Boeing but its seizure was thwarted by the crew and passengers and the plane made an emergency landing at Heathrow Airport, London, with one hijacker dead and his girl companion wounded. The girl was held by Scotland Yard for questioning. The P.L.F.P. in Amman issued an ultimatum to the British Government that it release her within 72 hours and ensure that she returned safely to Jordan.