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Date:
December 03, 1971
Aircraft
Type: Boeing 720-040B
Registration:
AP-AMG
Aircraft Name:
"City of Comilla"
Crew:
6 on board
Passengers:
22 on board
Total
on board: 28
Number
of hijackers: 1
Victims:
0
Flight:
London - Paris - Rome - Cairo - Karachi
Flight
number: PK-712
Description:
On December 3, 1971, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)
Boeing 720B was operating flight PK-712 from London to Karachi via
Paris, Rome and Cairo. PK-712 with seventeen passengers and six
crew members
arrived from London at Paris Orly Airport according to its
flight route.
Five passengers
boarded the aircraft at Paris. The last of these five passengers
was a 28-year old French man named Jean Kay who was able
to enter the aircraft without undergoing normal security
procedures. Around 11:50 AM
the aircraft doors were closed and when its engines were getting
started, Jean Kay
slipped into aircraft cockpit. Armed
with a pistol he threatened
cockpit crew and asked them to shut down engines. He ordered
aircraft fuel tanks to be filled to the top. He also demanded 20
tons of medicines to be loaded into the aircraft for their delivery
in India for refugees
displaced due to unrest in then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
The incident happened few hours before the start of 1971 Indo-Pak
war that ended
on December 16 with East Pakistan becoming independent
Bangladesh.
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Boeing
720-040B (Abbas
Ali
Collection) |
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Hijacked AP-AMG "City of Comilla" sitting at Paris-Orly
Airport, France, on December 3, 1971. The Lufthansa
Boeing 737 visible in the background was taxiing after
landing and it was carrying Chancellor of West Germany
Willy Brandt on visit to France |
The hijacker also carried a briefcase
with two wires sticking out of it and he claimed that it was a
bomb. He threatened to blow up the aircraft with the explosive
device if his demands were not met. He also arranged a passenger as interpreter for communicating with cockpit
crew who could not speak or understand French language. For much
of the day, the French authorities thought there were two
hijackers involved and they identified them as a Frenchman and a
Pakistani.
Pakistani
passengers felt terrified when the hijacker announced that he
would let everybody except them off at Beirut in Lebanon before heading to
India.
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Boeing
720-040B (Abbas
Ali
Collection) |
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Some of freed passengers coming out of hijacked AP-AMG sitting at Paris-Orly
Airport, France, on December 3, 1971 |
Meanwhile, French
authorities began arranging delivery of medicines demanded by
the hijacker. By 5:15 PM the first truck load of medicines
arrived at the airport. While cases of these medicines were
loaded into aircraft cargo hold, the hijacker allowed a number
of elderly passengers and an infant to disembark. He also
allowed stewardesses to serve meals to passengers in the
aircraft.
The authorities
tested hijacker's patience by carrying out process of loading
medicines slowly and managed to get his permission for loading
some medicines in rear section of aircraft passenger cabin. Four
French policemen disguised as Red Cross workers with Red Cross
arm bands entered passenger cabin through aircraft rear door to
load medicines. At the same time two more policemen disguised as
Air France aircraft technicians entered aircraft cockpit through
a trap door. A policeman disguised as Red Cross pounced on the
hijacker who retaliated by opening fire from his 9mm pistol. The
bullet pierced police officer's sweater and slightly wounded his
hand. The hijacker received a number of blows as he scuffled
with the policemen who had entered the aircraft through trap
door. The policemen successfully overpowered and seized the
hijacker to end six hour hijacking. The subdued hijacker was
removed from the aircraft and arrested for interrogation. The
only weapon carried by him was the 9mm pistol. The briefcase
that he claimed was a bomb contained a French Bible,
English-French dictionary, a razor, clothes brush and a pair of
harmless electrical wires.
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Cabin Crew (Abbas
Ali
Collection) |
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Smiling
and happy PIA Air Hostesses photographed after the end
of
hijacking at Paris-Orly
Airport, France, on December 3, 1971 |
After the end of
hijacking, the Boeing 720B was cleared to depart from Paris.
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