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KLM Flight 861

1973 aircraft hijacking

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KLM Flight 861

PH-BUA, the incident aircraft, at Faro Airport in 1988.
Hijacking
Date	25 November 1973
Summary	Aircraft hijacking
Site	Dubai
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 747-206B[1]
Aircraft name	The Mississippi
Operator	KLM
Registration	PH-BUA[1]
Flight origin	Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Stopover	Ellinikon International Airport, Athens, Greece
1st stopover	Beirut International Airport, Beirut, Lebanon
2nd stopover	Palam Airport, Delhi, India
Destination	Tokyo International Airport, Tokyo, Japan
Passengers	247[1]
Crew	17[1]
Fatalities	0
Survivors	264

KLM Flight 861, operated by a Boeing 747 registered PH-BUA and named "The Mississippi", was hijacked on 25 November 1973, by three young Arabs over Iraqi airspace on a scheduled Amsterdam-Tokyo flight with 247 passengers on board.

KLM Flight 861, captained by Issac Risseeuw, was a scheduled flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Tokyo-Haneda (HND) with planned stops at Athens (ATH), Beirut (BEY) and Delhi (DEL). The airplane was en route over Iraq when it was hijacked by three passengers, claiming to be members of the Arab Youth Organization for the Liberation of Palestine. They forced the plane to Damascus, Nicosia, Tripoli, Malta, and finally Dubai where the hijackers surrendered to authorities. All 247 passengers and 17 crew survived the hijacking.

The hijack was claimed by the Arab Nationalist Youth Organization. The flight number is still used for the Amsterdam to Tokyo direct route.