Certainly! Let me provide you with a detailed account of the IC 814 flight hijacking, also known as the Kandahar hijack:
On Friday, December 24, 1999, Indian Airlines Flight 814 (commonly referred to as IC 814) was an Airbus A300 en route from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, India.
The flight was piloted by Captain Devi Sharan, first officer Rajinder Kumar, and flight engineer Anil Kumar Jaggia.
At approximately 17:30 IST, shortly after entering Indian airspace, five masked hijackers commandeered the aircraft.
They ordered the plane to be flown to several locations:
Amritsar, India
Lahore, Pakistan
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Kandahar, Afghanistan
The hijackers finally forced the aircraft to land in Kandahar, Afghanistan, which was then under Taliban control.
In Dubai, they released 27 of the 176 passengers but fatally stabbed one and wounded several others.
Taliban militiamen surrounded the plane, preventing any Indian military intervention.
The hijackers’ motive was to secure the release of three high-profile terrorists held in Indian prisons:
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh
Masood Azhar
Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar
These individuals were associated with extremist groups and had been involved in various terrorist actions.
The hostage crisis lasted for seven days.
India eventually agreed to release the three terrorists in exchange for the hostages.
Unfortunately, the released terrorists went on to be implicated in other terrorist attacks, including the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, the 2002 kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl, and the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
The IC 814 hijacking remains a significant event in aviation history, highlighting the complexities of negotiations during such crises.
