TWA Flight 847
Leonardo da Vinci Int'l Airport | |
3rd stopover | Logan International Airport |
---|---|
4th stopover | Los Angeles International Airport |
Destination | San Diego International Airport |
Occupants | 147 |
Passengers | 139 |
Crew | 8 |
Fatalities | 1 |
Survivors | 146 |
TWA Flight 847 was a regularly scheduled Trans World Airlines flight from Cairo to San Diego with en route stops in Athens, Rome, Boston, and Los Angeles.[1] On the morning of June 14, 1985, Flight 847 was hijacked soon after take off from Athens.[2][3] The hijackers demanded the release of 700 Shia Muslims from Israeli custody and took the plane repeatedly to Beirut and Algiers.[1] Later Western analysis considered them members of the Hezbollah group, an allegation Hezbollah rejects.
The passengers and crew endured a three-day intercontinental ordeal. Some passengers were threatened and some beaten. Passengers with Jewish-sounding names were separated from the others. United States Navy diver Robert Stethem was murdered, and his body was thrown onto the airport apron. Dozens of passengers were kept hostage during the next two weeks until released by their captors after some of their demands were met.
Hijacking events
Flight 847 was operated with a Boeing 727–200, registration N64339.[4] The flight originated in Cairo on the morning of June 14. After an uneventful flight from Cairo to Athens, a new crew boarded Flight 847. The new crew in Athens were Captain John Testrake, First Officer Phil Maresca, Flight Engineer Christian Zimmerman, flight service manager Uli Derickson, and flight attendants Judy Cox, Hazel Hesp, Elizabeth Howes, and Helen Sheahan.[5]
At 10:10, Flight 847 departed Athens for Rome. It was hijacked soon after takeoff by two
The hijackers assaulted Derickson, breaching the cockpit and dragging her with them before attacking and pistol-whipping Testrake, Maresca, and Zimmerman.
To Beirut, then Algiers
This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2018) |
With Captain Testrake being held at gunpoint, the airplane was diverted from its original destination of Rome, in airspace over Greece, to the
At the time, Lebanon was in the midst of the
Back to Beirut
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/SW2_Robert_Stethem.jpg)
Beirut International Airport was surrounded by a
The hijackers had systematically and regularly beaten all the military passengers, but during this stop, they selected
Algiers, Beirut again
Nearly a dozen heavily armed men joined the hijackers before the airplane returned to Algiers the next day, 15 June,[1] where an additional 65 passengers and all five female cabin crew members were released.[11]
The initial demands of the hijackers included:
- Release of the "Kuwait 17", those involved in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. embassy in Kuwait[12]
- Release of all 766 mainly Lebanese Shias transferred to
- International condemnation of Israel and the United States.[1]
The
By the afternoon of June 17, the 40 hostages remaining had been taken from the airplane and kept captive throughout Beirut by Hezbollah.
The hostages then boarded a U.S. Air Force
Afterward
Nationality | Passengers | Crew | Total |
---|---|---|---|
Australia | 3 | 0 | 3 |
France | 8 | 1 | 9 |
Greece | 15 | 0 | 15 |
Italy | 11 | 0 | 11 |
United Kingdom | 24 | 0 | 24 |
United States | 78 | 7 | 85 |
Total | 139 | 8 | 147 |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/TWA_Flight_847_Captain_John_Testrake_with_hijacker_in_Beirut.jpg/260px-TWA_Flight_847_Captain_John_Testrake_with_hijacker_in_Beirut.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Hezbollah_hijackers_TWA_Flight_847.png/260px-Hezbollah_hijackers_TWA_Flight_847.png)
A famous image of this hijacking was a photograph showing a gun being held near Captain Testrake, sticking out of the cockpit window, while he and the other pilots were being interviewed by ABC News reporter Charles Glass. The scene was interrupted by one of the French-speaking Hezbollah guards left by the hijackers to hold the crew after most passengers and the cabin crew had been released in Algiers, and the remaining men were held in captivity elsewhere in Beirut. The young militiaman may have unloaded the gun before entering the scene, as he primarily wanted to be on television.[3]
Flight attendant
USS Stethem, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer commissioned in 1995, was named in honor of Robert Stethem.[17] The aircraft involved in the hijacking was put back into service. It remained in service for TWA until the aircraft was retired on September 30, 2000. It ceremoniously operated the airline's final revenue flight of their Boeing 727 fleet.[18] The aircraft was later scrapped in May 2002. It had first flown on August 27, 1974, and was delivered to the airline on September 5, 1974.[19]
Alleged perpetrators
Hezbollah specialist Magnus Ranstorp of the University of St Andrews credits "leading" Hezbollah members Hassan Izz-Al-Din (later involved with the Kuwait Airways Flight 422 hijacking in 1988) and Mohammed Ali Hammadi, whose brother was one of the commanders of the Hezbollah Special Security Apparatus, with assisting Hezbollah operatives in the "supervision and planning of the incident itself and as an active participant in the defusion and resolution".[14]
On October 10, 2001, in the immediate aftermath of
Mohammed Ali Hammadi was arrested in 1987 in
Several news outlets reported the announcement by Hezbollah of the death of Imad Mughniyeh in a car bomb explosion in Syria on February 13, 2008.[25] The remaining three fugitives from TWA Flight 847 remain on the list, and at large.[26]
On September 19, 2019, Greek police arrested a 65-year-old Lebanese man who was accused of involvement in the hijacking. The man was arrested at Mykonos during a passport check for cruise ship passengers.[27] He was aboard a cruise ship that had crossed Rhodes, Santorini and Mykonos. Mykonos was the last stop before returning to Turkey.[28] He was later released after police determined it was a case of mistaken identity.[29]
Hezbollah reportedly denies culpability in the TWA Flight 847 hijacking, among its denials of numerous other attacks that have been attributed to the group.[30]
Film
- The Delta Force film of 1986 is based on the TWA 847 hijacking.
- The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story is a 1988 TV movie based on the incident focusing on the role of flight attendant Uli Derickson (played by Lindsay Wagner).
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e Smith, William E. June 24, 2001. Terror Aboard Flight 847. TIME Magazine. Retrieved: 24 November 2012.
- ^ a b "Lebanon The Hostage Crisis – Flags, Maps, Economy, History, Climate, Natural Resources, Current Issues, International Agreements, Population, Social Statistics, Political System". www.photius.com.
- ^ a b Terror Mastermind's deception cause for skepticism, CNN, February 14, 2008
- ^ "FAA Registry (N64339)". Federal Aviation Administration.
- ^ See Hostage in a Hostage World: Hope aboard Hijacked TWA 847 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1985) for Zimmermann's account of this experience.
- ^ "Thinking of Robert Stethem". The New York Sun. Archived from the original on 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
- ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
- ^ Berger, Joseph (15 June 1985). "Gunmen Seize Jet in Mideast Flight; Passenger Killed". The New York Times. Vol. 134, no. 46441.
- ^ "He's Pulled a Grenade Pin". The New York Times. Associated Press. June 15, 1985. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- ^ "Lebanon – The Hostage Crisis". www.country-data.com.
- ^ Berger, Joseph (16 June 1985). "Hijackers Release Over 60 From Jet in Algiers Airport". The New York Times. Vol. 134, no. 46442.
- ^ "Hijacking of TWA Flight 1847". PBS. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
- ^ Gwertzman, Bernard (21 June 1985). "U.S. Aides Say Hostage Release Would Free 766 Held in Israel". The New York Times. Vol. 134, no. 46447.
- ^ OCLC 89805638
- ^ Rohter, Larry (18 June 1985). "Passengers Taken From Hijacked Jet, Lebanese Reports". The New York Times. Vol. 134, no. 46444.
- ^ Weinraub, Bernard (1 July 1985). "39 American Hostages Free After 17 Days". The New York Times. Vol. 134, no. 46457.
- ^ "TWA RETIRES THE B-727". Youtube. ampicoab. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
- ^ "REGISTRATION DETAILS FOR N64339 (TRANS WORLD AIRLINES (TWA)) 727-231". Planelogger. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
- ^ Germany paroles terrorist after 19-year term, NBC News
- ^ Will Germany Release an American-Killer?, January 27, 2004
- ^ "German Hostage Freed in Iraq: Freed Osthoff Not Heading Home Yet". Der Spiegel. December 19, 2005 – via Spiegel Online.
- ^ US 'seeks justice' for hijacker, BBC News
- FBInational Press Release, February 24, 2006
- ^ Hezbollah: Top militant wanted by U.S. slain, MSNBC February 13, 2008
- ^ "Hijacking of TWA Flight 847". Federal Bureau of Investigation.
- ^ "Suspect arrested in Greece over 1985 TWA plane hijacking | DW | 21.09.2019". DW.COM.
- ^ "TWA hijacker arrested in Greece after 34 years (photos)".
- ^ Elinda Labropoulou, Nada Altaher and Evan Perez (22 September 2019). "Greek police release TWA hijacking suspect and say it was a case of mistaken identity". CNN. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
- ^ "Germans release Lebanese hijacker". 2005-12-20. Retrieved 2018-04-09.