Word: pakistanis
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Exactly what happened during the last terrible moments of the ordeal is not clear, but survivors agree that the climax came after the plane's internal generator, which powered the lights and air conditioning aboard the 747, failed, probably because the lubricating oil had run low. At that point, Pakistani authorities sent their trained commandos into action...
...wing and jumped down onto the tarmac and ran." Catherine Dumas, of Lafayette, N.J., who escaped the plane without a scratch but suffered a sprained ankle when a nervous ambulance driver ran over her foot, called the scramble "one of those Three Stooges comedy situations." By that time the Pakistani commandos | were moving in on the plane. Moments later, when one of the terrorists attempted to escape by melting into the fleeing crowd, he was identified by angry passengers and arrested on the spot...
Piecing together a clear picture of precisely what happened during the closing minutes of the incident was complicated by the inconsistency of Pakistani authorities in explaining what they had done. At first they implied that once the aircraft lights had failed, they had ordered their commandos to storm the plane. The Reagan Administration immediately announced that the Pakistanis had handled the situation "boldly and decisively" -- a statement intended mainly to demonstrate Washington's satisfaction with Pakistan's cooperation...
...hijacker had a Syrian passport, a second a Bahrain passport, and a third Palestinian travel documents, said Pakistani intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. They said the nationality of the fourth hijacker was not known...
...Pakistani officials continued to issue conflicting reports about the number of passengers and hijackers killed and the scenario that led to the plane being stormed...