Passengers
The flight had 178 passengers most of whom were Indian nationals who were coming back to India after vacationing in Nepal.[1]
Hijacking
The Indian Airlines flight 814 (VT-EDW) was hijacked on Friday, 24 December 1999, shortly after the aircraft entered Indian airspace at about 5:30 P.M. Indian Standard Time.[2] The identities of the hijackers according to the Indian Government were:[3]
- Ibrahim Azhar, Bahawalpur, Pakistan
- Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Karachi, Pakistan
- Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Karachi, Pakistan
- Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, Karachi, Pakistan
- Shakir, Sukkur, Pakistan
Anil Sharma, the chief flight attendant on IC-814, later recalled that a masked, bespectacled man threatened to blow up the plane with a bomb and ordered Captain Devi Sharan to “fly west”.[4] The hijackers wanted Captain Sharan to divert the aircraft over Lucknow and head towards Lahore, but Pakistani authorities quickly refused permission as they were wary of being linked with the terrorists. Also, the fuel was not sufficient. Captain Sharan told the hijackers that they had to land in Amritsar, India.[4] continue reading…
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