Japan Airlines Flight 472
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | September 28, 1977 |
| Type | Hijacking |
| Site | Dhaka, Bangladesh |
| Passengers | 156 (excluding the hijackers) |
| Crew | 14 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Survivors | 156 (excluding the hijackers) |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-8[1] |
| Operator | Japan Airlines |
Japan Airlines Flight 472 was an aircraft hijacking carried out by the Japanese Red Army (JRA) on September 28, 1977.
Contents |
[edit] Incident
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." Six of the imprisoned JRA members were then released.[2]
A chartered Japan Airlines (JAL) flight carried the money and the six released JRA members to Dhaka, where the exchange took place on October 2. The hijackers released 118 passengers and crew members. 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.[3]
[edit] Aftermath
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. Several of the JRA radicals involved in the hijacking have yet to be apprehended and their current whereabouts are unknown.[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Schreiber, Mark (1996). Shocking Crimes of Postwar Japan. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 4900737348.
