However, after 17 hours, when the flight’s auxiliary power unit ran out of fuel, plunging the aircraft into darkness, hijackers opened fire. Neerja was the one to alert the pilot, captain and first officers of a possible hijack which resulted in the pilot and co-pilot evacuating the cockpit so that plane cannot be flown. With quick thinking, she and her fellow attendants hid the passports of 43 American flyers under a seat and a garbage chute. The sole reason being to identify and separate the Americans on the flight. Within minutes of hijacking, the terrorists killed and Indian American citizen and asked Neerja to collect everyone’s passport. Age-progressed photos of four suspects who have alleged roles in a 1986 attack in Pakistan (Photo source: FBI). The hijackers, belonging to the Abu Nidal Organization, wanted the aircraft to fly to Cyprus to free the Palestinian prisoners in Cyprus and were targeting Americans onboard. The aircraft was carrying 380 passengers and 13 crew members. On September 5th, 1986, Pan Am Flight 73 which was flying from Mumbai to USA was hijacked by four armed men at the Karachi airport. She was sent to Miami for training as a flight attendant, however, she returned as a purser, which is the chief flight attendant/cabin manager. With ease, she made it to the top 80 out of the 10,000 applications for a flight attendant. After the dispiriting marriage, she joined the Pan Am as a flight attendant in 1985.
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