Sabena Flight 571
Sabena Flight 571
The incident aircraft at Heathrow on 7 June 1976
Hijacking summary
Date 8 May 1972
Summary
Hijacking
Site Tel Aviv-Lod International Airport (TLV),
Lod,
Israel
Passengers 94 (inc. 4 hijackers)
Crew 7
Fatalities 3 (1 passenger, 2 hijackers)
Injuries (non-fatal) 3 (2 passengers, 1 commando)
Survivors 98 (inc. 2 hijackers)
Aircraft type Boeing 707-329
Operator Sabena
Registration OO-SJG
Flight origin Wien-Schwechat International Airport (VIE/LOWW)
Destination Tel Aviv-Lod International Airport (TLV),
Lod,
Israel
Sabena Flight 571 was a scheduled passenger flight from
Brussels to
Lod via
Vienna operated by the Belgian national airline,
Sabena. On 8 May 1972 a
Boeing 707 passenger
aircraft operating that service, captained by British pilot Reginald Levy,
DFC,
[1] was hijacked by four members of the
Black September Organization, a Palestinian terrorist group. Following their instructions, Captain Levy landed the plane at
Lod Airport (later Ben Gurion International Airport).
[1]
The attack, planned by
Ali Hassan Salameh, was carried out by a group of two men and two women who pretended to be two couples: the group’s leader Ali Taha Abu Snina, plus Abed al-Aziz Atrash, Rima Tannous and Theresa Halsa.
[2] They were armed with two handguns, two hand grenades and two belts of explosives. Twenty minutes out of Vienna, the hijackers entered the cockpit. "As you can see," Captain Levy told the 90 passengers, "we have friends aboard." He concealed from the hijackers that his wife was a passenger on the plane.
[2]
Hijacking
Soon after taking command, the hijackers separated the Jewish hostages from the others and sent them to the back of the aircraft.
[3] When the plane had landed, the hijackers demanded the release of 315 convicted Palestinian terrorists
[4] imprisoned in
Israel, and threatened to blow up the airplane with its passengers. Captain Levy managed to send the Israelis a coded message requesting help.
Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and Transport Minister
Shimon Peres, who would become Prime Minister and later President of Israel, conducted negotiations with the hijackers while preparing a rescue operation, code-named "Operation Isotope."
[5] Captain Levy said he talked to the hijackers about everything "from navigation to sex” while the passengers and crew waited to be rescued.
[6]
On 9 May 1972 at 4:00 p.m. the rescue operation began: a team of 16
Sayeret Matkal commandos, led by
Ehud Barak[1] and including
Benjamin Netanyahu,
[1] both future Israeli
Prime Ministers, approached the aircraft
[7] disguised as aircraft
technicians in white coveralls.
[1] Having immobilized it during the preceding night, they convinced the hijackers that its hydraulic system needed repair. They then stormed the aircraft,
[2] killing both male hijackers within two minutes.
[8] They also captured the two women hijackers
[1] and rescued all 90 remaining passengers. Three passengers were wounded in the exchange of fire, one of whom, 22-year-old Miriam Anderson, later died of her injuries. Netanyahu was also wounded during the rescue when another commando, Marko Ashkenazi, accidentally discharged his gun as he used it to hit Theresa Halsa. The bullet passed through her and penetrated Netanyahu’s bicep.
[2]
Aftermath
Halsa and Rima Tannous were eventually sentenced to
life imprisonment—Halsa for 220 years.
[2] They were freed in November 1983, in a
prisoner exchange after the
1982 Lebanon War.
[2]
Sabena continued to operate the aircraft for another five years, until it was purchased by
Israel Aircraft Industries. It was eventually sold to the
Israeli Air Force, and served as a spy plane for many years, participating in most of the Air Force's long-range operations.[
citation needed]
Captain Levy, a
Royal Air Force veteran who took part in
strategic bombing missions over
Germany during
World War II[1] and also in the
Berlin airlift,
[1] had joined Sabena in 1952.
[1] He retired in 1982
[1] and died of a heart attack, at a hospital near his home in
Dover on 1 August 2010.
[1] The hijacking took place on his 50th birthday.
[1]
Source:
Sabena Flight 571 - Wikipedia