Japan Airlines Flight 472
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Japan Airlines Flight 472 was hijacked by the Japanese Red Army on September 28, 1977.
The Douglas DC-8, en route from Paris to Haneda Airport in Tokyo with 156 people on board, stopped in Mumbai, India. Shortly after taking off from Mumbai, five armed JRA members hijacked the aircraft and ordered it flown to Dhaka, Bangladesh. At Dhaka, the hijackers took the passengers and crew hostage, demanding $6 million and the release of 9 imprisoned JRA members.
On October 1, Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda announced that the Japanese government would accept the hijackers' demands, on the principle that "human life is more important than the world."
A chartered JAL flight carried the money and 6 of the 9 imprisoned JRA members to Dhaka, where the exchange took place on October 2. The hijackers released 118 passengers and crewmembers. On October 3, they flew to Kuwait City and Damascus, where they released 11 more hostages. Finally, the aircraft was flown to Algeria, where it was impounded by authorities and the remaining hostages were freed.
One of the hostages freed in Algeria said that the Japanese government's handling of the situation was "the right thing to do in order to secure the release of innocent victims of terrorism."
The incident contrasted Europe and the United States' approach of non-negotiation with terrorists to Japan's approach of appeasing terrorists if necessary. Shortly after the incident, Japan's National Police Agency established a Special Assault Team to deal with future acts of terrorism.
