Sabena Flight 571
Passengers | 94 (inc. 4 hijackers) |
---|---|
Crew | 7 |
Fatalities | 3 (1 passenger, 2 hijackers) |
Injuries | 3 (2 passengers, 1 commando) |
Survivors | 98 (inc. 2 hijackers) |
Sabena Flight 571 was a scheduled passenger flight from
Hijacking
The attack, planned by Ali Hassan Salameh, was carried out by a group of two men and two women who pretended to be two couples: the group's leader Ali Taha Abu Snina, plus Abed al-Aziz Atrash, Rima Tannous and Theresa Halsa.[2] They were armed with two handguns, two hand grenades and two belts of explosives. Twenty minutes out of Vienna, the hijackers entered the cockpit. "As you can see," Captain Levy told the 90 passengers, "we have friends aboard." He concealed from the hijackers that his wife was a passenger on the plane, traveling with him to celebrate his birthday in Tel Aviv.[2]
Soon after taking command, the hijackers separated the Jewish hostages from the others and sent them to the back of the aircraft.
On 9 May 1972 at 4:00 p.m. the rescue operation began: a team of 16
Aftermath
Halsa and Rima Tannous were eventually sentenced to life imprisonment—Halsa for 220 years.[2] They were freed in November 1983, in a prisoner exchange after the 1982 Lebanon War.[2]
Sabena continued to operate the aircraft for another five years, until it was purchased by
Captain Levy, a
In media
- From Night Flak to Hijack: It's a Small World, autobiography by Captain Reginald Levy DFC.
- Sabena Hijacking: My Version, Israeli docudrama depicting the hijacking and rescue, in which three Prime Ministers of Israel were involved.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Hevesi, Dennis (5 August 2010). "Reginald Levy Is Dead at 88; Hailed as a Hero in a '72 Hijacking". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f Jeffries, Stuart (11 November 2015). "Four hijackers and three Israeli PMs: the incredible story of Sabena flight 571". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- ^ "Two Passengers on Hijacked Plane Seriously Wounded; Terrorists Separate Jews from Non-jews on Plane". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 11 May 1972. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
- ISBN 1-920769-80-3.
- ^ Judah Ari Gross (13 August 2015). "When the prime ministers took down the hijackers". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
- ^ "Pilot's Story: Terrorists Didn't Know His Wife Was Passenger on Plane". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 11 May 1972. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
- ^ Sontag, Deborah (20 April 1999). "2 Who Share a Past Are Rivals for Israel's Future". The New York Times. pp. Section A, Page 3, Column 1.
- ^ Fountain, Nigel (23 August 2010). "Reginal Levy obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- ^ "Operation Isotope". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
- ^ "באר שבע – ה'בואינג' שנחטף בדרך לחצרים" [Be'er Sheva – a Boeing hijacked on the way to the premises]. Mynet (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
External links
- Israeli Special Forces History
- Heves, Dennis (4 August 2010). "Reginald Levy Is Dead at 88; Hailed as a Hero in a '72 Hijacking". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 August 2010.