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Ethiopian Airlines Flight 708
1972 aircraft highjacking attempt From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Ethiopian Airlines Flight 708 was a Boeing 720-060B, due to operate an international scheduled Addis Ababa–Asmara–Athens–Rome–Paris passenger service, that experienced a hijacking attempt on 8 December 1972.[1][2][3]
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Summary
Minutes after departing from Haile Selassie I International Airport bound for Paris, when the aircraft was flying at some 29,000 feet (8,800 m),[2] seven members[nb 1] of the Eritrean Liberation Front stood up and tried to gain control of the plane.[1] Onboard security guards opened fire on the hijackers, killing six. During the firefight a hand grenade that was armed by one of the hijackers was rolled down the aisle by a passenger.[4] The grenade exploded in the rear part of the fuselage, some 6 inches (150 mm) off the plane's centreline, blowing a hole in the cabin floor and damaging or severing several controls of the aircraft, including those of throttle of two engines, of the rudder, and of the horizontal stabiliser.[2][4] Despite this, the crew turned back the airplane to the airport of origin and managed to land it safely;[2] it sustained minor damages that were repaired later. The seventh hijacker died in hospital of their injuries.[1]
One of the passengers on the flight was English oil executive and art collector Rodney Searight. He was injured during the attack by the hijackers.[3][5][6]
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