PEOPLE
In 1986, a Flight Attendant Fought Off 4 Hijackers, Hid Passenger’s Passports to Protect Americans and Died a Hero
By Colson Thayer Published on September 22, 2026 08:35AM EDT
Before sacrificing her life to shield children from the hail of gunfire, flight attendant Neerja Bhanot spent 16 hours quietly outsmarting four armed hijackers on board Pan Am flight 73 in 1986.
Her incredible bravery — which included secretly hiding American passports to save targeted passengers — earned the 22-year-old senior purser international recognition and the lasting title of “Heroine of the Hijack.”
In the early morning hours of Sept. 5, 1986, four Abu Nidal terrorists boarded Pan Am flight 73 during a scheduled stopover at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan. The flight was en route from Bombay (now Mumbai) to Frankfurt, Germany, and then to New York.
According to the Pan Am Museum in Uniondale, N.Y., the hijackers dressed in fake airport security uniforms with authentic-looking security badges and arrived in a highly modified van that looked similar to an airport vehicle. The men subsequently boarded with assault rifles, pistols, grenades and belts of explosives with the goal of flying to Cyprus and Israel to free fellow militants who were incarcerated on terror charges.
On board, one of the flight attendants phoned in a warning to the cockpit and relayed a hijack code. The captain, first officer and flight engineer subsequently evaded the incident via a cockpit escape hatch, leaving the passengers and crew members face-to-face with the assailants.
Outside, Pan Am’s Karachi director began negotiations with a megaphone, telling the hijackers they were looking for a pilot to fly them where they needed to go. Meanwhile, 29-year-old American Rajesh Kumar was pulled out of his seat and forced to kneel at the front of the plane with a gun to his head. When no pilot appeared within an hour, Kumar was shot and kicked out of the open doors of the plane.
Since Abu Nidal opposed U.S. and Israeli policy in the Middle East, about four hours into the ordeal, the hijackers began trying to identify the Americans on board. Bhanot and fellow crew members then went through the bags of passports they collected, secretly sorting out the American documents, and hiding them under their seats or in their clothing.
Despite the extreme circumstances, flight attendants recalled comforting the passengers and passing out food and water during the ordeal in a 2016 interview with the BBC.
As the situation continued for hours, the battery of the plane eventually died. When the lights went out, at least three doors opened. Crew members jumped into action, helping assist passengers off the plane.
However, amid the chaos, Bhanot was shot in her hip, bleeding heavily, but was conscious. Witnesses later described seeing Bhanot shot while shielding children and leading them to an escape slide.
Two colleagues reportedly found her conscious and carried her to the emergency slide. Fellow crew members say she was still alive when she was transported to Karachi’s Jinnah Hospital; however, the chaos continued at the hospital.
“Neerja’s life may have been saved were conditions in the hospital better,” her colleague, Sherene Pavan, told the BBC.
According to the outlet, three of the hijackers were caught by airport security as they fled the airport. Lead hijacker Zaid Hassan Abd Latif Safarini was still on board when Pakistan’s security forces entered the aircraft.
At least 21 people were killed, including two Americans, and more than 100 were injured. However, the combined effort of the 16 flight attendants and Pan Am’s Karachi director saved the lives of more than 350 people, according to the U.S. Office for Victims of Crimes (OVC).
In 1987, Bhanot became the youngest and first female recipient of India’s Ashoka Chakra, the country’s highest peacetime gallantry award.
The OVC handed 17 Pan Am team members the Special Courage Award in 2006, including a posthumous award presented to Bhanot’s family.
In 2016, the 30th anniversary of the hijacking, Bhanot’s life was retold in an Indian biographical thriller entitled Neerja.
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