Neerja Bhanot was a flight attendant who is known for her bravery. Neerja was born to a Punjabi Family in Chandigarh. The family moved to Mumbai and that is when Neerja began her modeling career. In the year 1985 Neerja applied for the job of a flight attendant with Pan Am and got selected. On 5th September 1986, Neerja was the senior flight purser on the Pan Am flight 73 flying from Mumbai to the US via Karachi and Frankfurt. According to Business standard reports, 4 armed terrorists entered the plane posing as Pakistani Police Personnel. The terrorist belonged to the Abu Nidal terrorist group from the Palestine terrorist organization that wanted to fly to Cyprus to free Palestine prisoners from Cyprus. The terrorists spotted an Indian-American citizen and shot him point black and threw his body off the airplane.
Neerja was asked to collect the passports of the passengers on the plane to identify the Americans on the plane. Neerja along with her colleagues hid the passports of 43 American passengers to save them from the terrorists. Neerja was able to swiftly alert the co-pilot about the hijack which made them get out of the cockpit ensuring the plane never took off.
After 17 hours of hijacking the airplane, the terrorists decided to open fire. Neerja managed to open one of the emergency doors of the aircraft. According to India Today reports, the passengers of the flights stated that Neerja had the opportunity to get out of that plane first and save herself. Instead, the young flight attendant chose to save others and help them escape through the emergency exit. Neerja was trying to help three children get out of the airplane when one of the terrorists saw her and held her by her ponytail and shot her.
She died being brave and inspired millions of people with her bravery. According to Wikipedia reports, one of the children on board who was aged 7 at the time, is a pilot today with an Airlines company. He stated that Neerja inspired him and he owes every day of his life to her.
Neerja is called the “heroine of hijacking” and inspired us with her brave heart.
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