Incident Overview
Description
A man with a toy gun and two female accomplices hijacked a Saudi Arabian Airlines Airbus A300 aircraft with 139 passengers on board and forced it to land in Nairobi, Kenya. The hijacker took control of the aircraft after it took off from Jeddah en route to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. The passengers and crew, with the exception of the pilot and co-pilot, were released after the plane landed at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Negotiations with the hijackers, who demanded the plane be refuelled and flown to Rome, Italy, took place during a total news blackout by Kenyan authorities. After 16 hours, the aircraft was reportedly stormed by members of Kenya’s hostage rescue team, the General Service Unit, and the male hijacker was shot and wounded. The three hijackers were reportedly among deportees placed aboard the aircraft by Saudi authorities in Jeddah.
Primary Cause
Hijacking of an aircraft by a group of individuals.Hijacking of an aircraft by a group of individuals.Share on:
