KLM Flight 861
KLM Flight 861, operated by a Boeing 747 registered PH-BUA and named "The Mississippi", was hijacked on 25 November 1973, by three young Arabs over Iraqi airspace on a scheduled Amsterdam-Tokyo flight with 247 passengers on board.
 PH-BUA, the incident aircraft, at Faro Airport in 1988. | |
| Hijacking | |
|---|---|
| Date | 25 November 1973 |
| Summary | Aircraft hijacking |
| Site | Dubai |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 747-206B[1] |
| Aircraft name | The Mississippi |
| Operator | KLM |
| Registration | PH-BUA[1] |
| Flight origin | Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
| Stopover | Ellinikon International Airport, Athens, Greece |
| 1st stopover | Beirut International Airport, Beirut, Lebanon |
| 2nd stopover | Palam Airport, Delhi, India |
| Destination | Tokyo International Airport, Tokyo, Japan |
| Passengers | 247[1] |
| Crew | 17[1] |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Survivors | 264 |
Incident
KLM Flight 861, captained by Issac Risseeuw, was a scheduled flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Tokyo-Haneda (HND) with planned stops at Athens (ATH), Beirut (BEY) and Delhi (DEL). The airplane was en route over Iraq when it was hijacked by three passengers, claiming to be members of the Arab Youth Organization for the Liberation of Palestine. They forced the plane to Damascus, Nicosia, Tripoli, Malta, and finally Dubai where the hijackers surrendered to authorities. All 247 passengers and 17 crew survived the hijacking.
Aftermath
The hijack was claimed by the Arab Nationalist Youth Organization. The flight number is still used for the Amsterdam to Tokyo direct route.
References
- "Hijacking description PP-SNT". Aviation Safety Network.