“Marr jaungi, lekin bhagungi nahi”
-Neerja Bhanot
“I will die, but not run away”- this is what a young Neerja told her mother when they had discussed the sensitive situation of a hypothetical hijack. Her brother Aneesh Bhanot recalls how one day her mother had picked this topic and told Neerja that she must save herself in case a hijack ever took place on a Pan- Am flight- the airlines that Neerja was working for. To this, Neerja had asked her mother to never think this way again, for she was determined to not be a coward in such a situation; and she lived up to her word. She fought until her last breath on the unfortunate flight and saved nothing less than 340 lives on board. Here is her story-
1986: 22 year old Neerja Bhanot was a self- made woman. Born to a Punjabi family and settled in Delhi, she was full of life and positivity. She was a coveted model and simultaneously pursued a fruitful career as a flight attendant employed with Pan Am Airlines. Her past had been fraught with difficulties. She has undergone a distressing marriage at the tender age of 19, which lasted for a very brief period. She had returned to her parents’ home and decided to live an independent life. She was in a relatively settled period in her life and she was to turn 23 soon.
5th September, 1986: Neerja (the flight’s senior flight purser) and her crew were getting Pan Am Flight 73 ready for departure for Karachi, Pakistan- following which the flight would fly to New York. Unfortunately, the flight was doomed to never reach there. All seemed well for the 360 passengers on board till the flight landed in Karachi; but before it could take off from there, the plane was hijacked by four Palestinian men of the Abu Nidal Organisation. These men had disguised themselves as airport security guards and were carrying weapons and arms of variety.
On being confronted with this unexpected calamity, Neerja immediately sprang into action. She attempted first and foremost, to alert the pilots in the cockpit of the hijack so that they could save themselves. The terrorists saw through her and assaulted her. She then passed on the warning in a code, which alerted the pilots. As per the mandate, they made an escape through the alternate exit so that the terrorists were at a loss of pilots who could be forced to fly the plane to the terrorists’ desired location.
This angered the terrorists and out of desperation, they chose to threaten the airport authorities. They held Rajesh Kumar, one of the passengers on the flight, as hostage and threatened to shoot him if the cockpit crew did not return within 15 minutes. The authorities could not force the pilots to go back and Rajesh was shot dead. This turned the situation graver and Neerja realized that she had to be more proactive in order to save the remaining of her passengers.
Over the next few hours of torture and terror, Neerja did whatever she could to provide comfort and safety to her passengers. For this, she had to negotiate at a personal level with the terrorists without fearing for her own safety. She took charge with fortitude.
The terrorists then held the cabin crew at gunpoint and demanded that the passports of all the passengers be collected immediately. Neerja was aware that they were looking for American passports so that they could identify and shoot the American passengers. Neerja played smart here and hid the American passports discreetly. She also managed to drop some of them down the rubbish chute, so that the terrorists had no chance of finding them. Out of the 41 Americans on board, Neerja ultimately saved 39 of them because of her quick thinking!
The frustration and helplessness of the terrorists grew every hour and their patience was running out. Seventeen hours into the hijack, the plane ran out of power. The terrorists lost their cool and opened fire on the passengers. Armed with grenades, plastic explosive belts, and pistols, the terrorists raised Hell on board. Taking advantage of the chaos and the terrorists’ senselessness, Neerja leapt into action at this point of time. She shed all her hesitation and fears and worked her way around evacuating as many passengers as she could. She could have run away for she knew the escape routes well, but she didn’t. She waited selflessly in face of death to help the ones around her.
As she was about to exit herself, she noticed three children who were left in the flight. They needed her help in escaping. As the braveheart rescued the kids, she was hit by the bullets fired by one of the terrorists. The wounds inflicted were fatal, and Neerja eventually succumbed to them. By a cruel twist of fate, this heroic young girl passed away.
Out of the 360 people on board, Neerja managed to save 340. Unfortunately though, she could not save herself. One cannot imagine the grief her family would have had to endure. Their loss is irreplaceable. However, Neerja’s death was also a loss to the whole country. Her life and sacrifice will never be forgotten by Indians. Her grit and selflessness will forever inspire us all.
Neerja Bhanot was posthumously honoured with an Ashok Chakra- the highest peacetime military decoration for valor, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from battlefield- in 1987.
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