A new Netflix series follows the hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight in December 1999 that took seven days to resolve, remaining the longest seizure of an aircraft in Indian aviation history. Adapted from the book Flight Into Fear by Captain Devi Sharan, the pilot on board the hijacked flight, IC814: The Kandahar Hijack delves into the crisis from various perspectives – the politicians and bureaucrats in Delhi’s War Room to the terrified hostages on board. Five masked men hijacked the aircraft on 24 December 1999, 40 minutes after it took off from the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, bound for New Delhi.
Sharan was forced to fly the plane into Pakistani airspace, where he did not receive clearance to land, despite the Indian High Commission in Pakistan making repeated requests. The plane then landed in Amritsar a little before 7pm, with barely 10 minutes worth of fuel left. In Amritsar, the Indian authorities were tasked with delaying the refuelling of the plane for as long as possible.
But at the same time, the hijackers wanted the plane back in the air, with permission to land in Pakistan. “Please get permission to land at OPLA (Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore)..
. otherwise they are ready to crash anywhere ..
. they have already selected 10 people to kill,” Sharan said to the Indian Air Traffic Control, according to India Today . Chaos ensued, as he made contact with the ATC again, telling them that the hijackers had begun to kill hostage.