Incident Overview

Date: Sunday 11 December 1994
Aircraft Type: Boeing 747-283B
Owner/operator: Philippine Air Lines
Registration Number: EI-BWF
Location: near Minami-Daito Island – ÿ Japan
Phase of Flight: En route
Status: Substantial, repaired
Casualties: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 293
Component Affected: Aircraft lavatoryAircraft lavatory
Category: Unlawful Interference
On Philippine Air Lines flight PR434, a passenger named Ramzi Yusef used a false identity and concealed a bomb in the aircraft lavatory. He set the timer for four hours, triggering an explosion that killed a passenger and injured several others. The blast caused significant damage to the aircraft, including a hole in the floor and severed control cables. A successful emergency landing at Okinawa was conducted.On Philippine Air Lines flight PR434, a passenger named Ramzi Yusef used a false identity and concealed a bomb in the aircraft lavatory. He set the timer for four hours, triggering an explosion that killed a passenger and injured several others. The blast caused significant damage to the aircraft, including a hole in the floor and severed control cables. A successful emergency landing at Okinawa was conducted.

Description

Philippine Air Lines flight PR434 departed Manila, Philippines on a service to Tokyo, Japan with an en route stop at Cebu, Philippines. One of the passengers on the first leg was Ramzi Yousef, who was using a fake name. After the plane was airborne, he went into the lavatory with his dopp kit and took off his shoes to get out batteries, wiring, and spark source hidden in the heel. He removed an altered Casio digital watch from his wrist to be used as a timer, unpacked the remaining materials from his dopp kit, and assembled a bomb. He set the timer for four hours later, which was approximately the time at which the plane would be far out over the ocean en route to Tokyo, put the entire bomb back into his dopp kit, and returned to his current seat. He managed to hide the bomb in the life vest pocket under seat 26K, a window seat on the right hand side of the plane. He deplaned after landing at Cebu and seat 26K was occupied by a Japanese passenger. The flight departed Cebu with a 38-minute delay. While en route the bomb exploded, killing the passenger seated there and injuring some ten other passengers nearby. The blast blew a hole in the floor, severing several control cables in the ceiling. A successful emergency landing at Okinawa was made at 12:45. Ramzi Yousef was arrested in January 1995. It is alleged that he placed the device as a test for other planned airplane bombings.

Primary Cause

False identity and concealment of a bomb.False identity and concealment of a bomb.

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