Japan Air Lines Flight 404

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Japan Air Lines Flight 404 was an airliner hijacked by Palestinian and Japanese terrorists in 1973.

The flight departed Amsterdam-Schiphol International Airport, Netherlands, on July 23, 1973, en route to Tokyo International Airport (Haneda), Japan, via Anchorage International Airport, Alaska. The aircraft was a Boeing 747-200, with 123 passengers and 22 crew members on board. The passenger complement included five terrorists. Four were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the fifth, Osamu Maruoka, was a member of the Japanese Red Army.^[1] The flight was hijacked shortly after takeoff from Schiphol. In the course of the hijacking, a grenade carried by one of the skyjackers detonated, killing her and injuring the flight's chief purser. The lead hijacker almost immediately announced himself to air traffic control as El Kassar, hijacking the aircraft in the name of the Palestinian Liberation movement.^[2] After several Middle Eastern governments refused to permit Flight 404 to land, the plane eventually touched down in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. After several days on the ground, the terrorists demanded the release of Kozo Okamoto, survivor of the JRA's attack on Tel Aviv's Lod Airport.^[3]

After the Israeli government refused to release Okamoto, the hijackers flew the aircraft first to Damascus, Syria, and then to Benghazi, in Libya.^[4] Eighty-nine hours after the hijacking began, the passengers and crew were released; the hijackers then blew up the aircraft.^[5]