Incident Overview

Date: Tuesday 23 June 1998
Aircraft Type: Boeing 727-200
Owner/operator: Iberia
Location: Valencia Airport (VLC) – ÿ Spain
Phase of Flight: En route
Casualties: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 131
Component Affected: AircraftAircraft
Category: Unlawful Interference
Approximately one hour after departing Seville, Iberia flight 1121 was hijacked and diverted to Valencia Airport. The hijacker demanded a remote control device and requested to be flown to Athens, Greece, then Tel Aviv, Israel. After a period of negotiation, he agreed to release 18 people, primarily children, and surrendered to Spanish National Police after speaking to his psychiatrist.Approximately one hour after departing Seville, Iberia flight 1121 was hijacked and diverted to Valencia Airport. The hijacker demanded a remote control device and requested to be flown to Athens, Greece, then Tel Aviv, Israel. After a period of negotiation, he agreed to release 18 people, primarily children, and surrendered to Spanish National Police after speaking to his psychiatrist.

Description

Approximately one hour after departing Seville, Iberia flight 1121 was hijacked and diverted to Valencia Airport. The hijacking occurred while the aircraft was flying from Seville to Barcelona, Spain, en route to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The hijacker told the pilot that he had a remote control device and could detonate a bomb in a suitcase in the plane’s cargo hold. He initially demanded to be flown to Athens, Greece, but then requested to be taken to Tel Aviv, Israel. The aircraft landed in Valencia for fuel, and the hijacker began demanding food and drink and fuel for the flight to Israel. Approximately an hour later the hijacker agreed to release 18 people, mostly children. After several more hours, the Spanish National Police determined that only one hijacker was involved and they identified him as a psychiatric patient. The hijacker, after speaking to his psychiatrist, surrendered approximately four hours after seizing the plane. None of the 124 passengers and seven crew members were injured during the incident. A search of the plane found no bomb on board; the device held by the hijacker was a television remote control.

Source of Information

http://elpais.com/diario/1998/06/24/espana/898639214_850215.htmlhttp://elpais.com/diario/1998/06/24/espana/898639214_850215.html

Primary Cause

Hijacking and diversion to a secondary airport.Hijacking and diversion to a secondary airport.

Share on:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *