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Japan Air Lines Flight 404

1973 aircraft hijacking

Japan Air Lines Flight 404

A Japan Air Lines Boeing 747-200, similar to the one involved
Hijacking
Date	20 July 1973 (1973-07-20)
Summary	Hijacking
Site	Dubai International Airport, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 747-246B
Operator	Japan Air Lines
Registration	JA8109
Flight origin	Schiphol International Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1st stopover	Orly International Airport, Paris, France
2nd stopover	Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Anchorage, Alaska, United States
Destination	Tokyo International Airport, Tokyo, Japan
Passengers	118 (plus 5 hijackers)
Crew	22
Fatalities	1 (hijacker)
Survivors	144 (all passengers and crew; plus the 4 surviving hijackers)

Japan Air Lines Flight 404 was a passenger flight which was hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Japanese Red Army on 20 July 1973.^[1]

The flight departed Amsterdam-Schiphol International Airport, Netherlands, on 20 July 1973, en route to Tokyo International Airport (Haneda), Japan, via Anchorage International Airport, Alaska, US. The aircraft was a Boeing 747-246B, with 123 passengers and 22 crew members on board. The passenger complement included five terrorists, led by Osamu Maruoka, a member of the Japanese Red Army, and the other four were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.^[2]

Just after takeoff from Schiphol Airport, the flight was hijacked. One of the hijackers accidentally detonated a grenade she was carrying, killing herself and severely injuring the chief purser. The lead hijacker almost immediately announced himself to air traffic control as El Kassar, hijacking the aircraft in the name of the Palestinian Liberation movement.^[3] After several Middle Eastern governments refused to permit Flight 404 to land, the plane eventually touched down in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. After several days on the ground, the terrorists demanded the release of Kozo Okamoto, survivor of the JRA's attackonTel Aviv's Lod Airport.^[4]

After the Israeli government refused to release Okamoto, the hijackers flew the aircraft first to Damascus, Syria, and then to Benghazi, in Libya.^[5] On 23 July, 89 hours after the hijacking began, the passengers and crew were released; the hijackers then blew up the aircraft, making the incident the second hull loss of a Boeing 747, and the first hull loss of a 747-200.^[5] The first hull-loss was also the result of hijackers.

Maruoka escaped, and in 1977, led the hijacking of Japan Air Lines Flight 472. He remained a fugitive until 1987 when he was arrested in Tokyo after entering Japan on a forged passport. Given a life sentence, he died in prison on 29 May 2011.^[6]

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