Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox aircraft occurrence Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was a scheduled international flight serving the route Addis Ababa–Nairobi–Brazzaville–Lagos–Abidjan. On 23 November 1996, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 767-200ER, was hijacked<ref name="1996 spawns worst-ever accident totals"/> en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi<ref name="ECAA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> by three Ethiopians seeking asylum in Australia.<ref name="ASN">Template:ASN accident</ref> The plane crash-landed in the Indian Ocean near Grande Comore, Comoros Islands, due to fuel exhaustion. Of those onboard, 125 of 175 died in the ditching (water landing), including all three hijackers and six of the 12 crew.<ref name="ASN"/> It was the first recorded instance of the ditching of a wide-body aircraft.

Background

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 767-260ER, registered ET-AIZ, c/n 23916,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="ECAA" /> that first flew on 17 September 1987. Powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7R4E engines, it was delivered new to Ethiopian Airlines on 22 October 1987.<ref name="ECAA" /> Except for a short period between Template:Start date and Template:Start date when it was leased to Air Tanzania, the airplane spent its life in the Ethiopian Airlines fleet. It was nine years old at the time the hijacking took place.

Crew

Captain Leul Abate (42), an experienced pilot with over 11,500 total flight hours (including 4,067 hours in the Boeing 757/767), was the pilot-in-command. The first officer on the flight was Yonas Mekuria (34). He had flown more than 6,500 hours, 3,042 of them in the Boeing 757/767.<ref name="ECAA" />

Prior to the crash, LeulTemplate:Efn had experienced two previous hijackings.<ref name="AfricanHijack" /> The first occurred 12 April 1992 on Flight ETH574, a Boeing 727-260. Two hijackers with hand grenades demanded to be taken to Nairobi and onwards to Canada. After a five-hour standoff at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the hijackers surrendered.<ref>Template:ASN accident</ref> The second occurred on 17 March 1995, flying a Boeing 737-260. Five hijackers demanded to be taken to Libya, and the airplane was diverted to El Obeid, Sudan. There the hijackers changed their mind and wanted to fly to Sweden instead. However, the Sudanese authorities refused to refuel the aircraft, and after several hours of standoff the hijackers surrendered.<ref>Template:ASN accident</ref> In both cases, the aircraft were undamaged and no one was injured or killed.<ref name="AfricanHijack" />

Incident

Departure

The flight had been delayed in order to wait for a connecting flight. The aircraft took off at 08:09 UTC from Addis Ababa.<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page

Hijacking

At about 08:29 UTC,<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page when the aircraft, referred to as Zulu by Ethiopian Airlines' pilots after the last letter of its registration,<ref name="AfricanHijack">Template:Cite episode</ref> was 20 minutes into the flight, three Ethiopian men charged the cockpit and hijacked the aircraft after taking an axe and a fire extinguisher from the cockpit.<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page Ethiopian state-operated radio later identified the hijackers as two unemployed high-school graduates and a nurse; their names were Alemayehu Bekeli Belayneh, Mathias Solomon Belay, and Sultan Ali Hussein; they did not say which of the hijackers was the nurse, which hijacker was which, or what their ages were.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The men threatened to blow up the plane in flight if the pilots did not obey their demands.<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page The hijackers claimed that there were 11 of them when in fact there were only three.<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page<ref name="AfricanHijack" /> After assaulting and forcing first officer Yonas Mekuria into the cabin, they made an announcement. Over the intercom, they declared in Amharic, French and English that if anyone tried to interfere, they had a bomb and they would use it to blow up the plane.<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page<ref name="AfricanHijack" /> Authorities later determined that the purported bomb was actually a covered bottle of liquor.<ref name="Telegraph" />

The hijackers demanded the plane be flown to Australia.<ref name="ASN"/> Leul tried to explain they had only taken on the fuel needed for the Addis Ababa to Nairobi sector and thus could not even make a quarter of the journey to Australia, but the hijackers did not believe him.<ref name="AfricanHijack"/> One of them pointed to a statement in the fleet page of the airline's in-flight magazine that the maximum flying time of the 767 was 11 hours.<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page

Leul later commented:

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

[The hijackers] knew they wouldn't make it to Australia – they just wanted us to crash. They should be dead. The way they were talking they didn't want to live.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>{{#if:|

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Instead of flying east towards Australia, the captain followed the African coastline southward. The hijackers noticed that land was still visible and forced the pilot to steer east. Leul secretly headed for the Comoro Islands, which lie midway between Madagascar and the African mainland. During this time, two of the hijackers went into the cabin, with the lead hijacker (as stated in the report) staying in the cockpit.<ref name="AfricanHijack"/>

Ditching

File:Ditching of Ethiopian Airlines Flt 961.JPG
Sequence showing the ditching of the aircraft; this was recorded by a South African tourist.

The plane was nearly out of fuel as it approached the island group, but the hijackers continued to ignore the captain's warnings. Out of options, Leul began to circle the area, hoping to land the plane at the Comoros' main airport. This forced Leul to land at more than Template:Convert.<ref name="AfricanHijack"/>

At 11:41 UTC, the right engine flamed out. The hijacker briefly exited the cabin to talk with the other hijackers. Leul took this opportunity to make use of the aircraft's public address system and made the following announcement:<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

Ladies and gentlemen this is your pilot, we have run out of fuel and we are losing one engine [at] this time, and we are expecting [a] crash landing and that is all I have to say. We have lost already one engine, and I ask all passengers to react ... to the hijackers.{{#if:|

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Hearing this, the lead hijacker returned to the cockpit and knocked Leul's microphone out of his hand.<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page Shortly after this, the left engine flamed out, forcing the 767 to glide. The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) then recorded the following (lowercase words were spoken in Amharic while words typed in uppercase were spoken in EnglishTemplate:Clarify):

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

Leul: "For the sake of my responsibility at least, the passengers must know the condition."
Hijacker: "Descend it, increase the speed further."

Leul: "It doesn't have any difference. Please. All the same. We are going to die. Why don't you – I thought there is no need to. For the passengers – "
End of recording{{#if:|

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Leul's sentence was cut off as the CVR and flight data recorder (FDR) both stopped recording at this point due to both engines having flamed out.<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page

Leul tried to make an emergency landing at Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport on Grande Comore, but a fight with the hijackers at the last minute caused him to lose his visual point of reference, leaving him unable to locate the airport. While still fighting with the hijackers, he tried to ditch the aircraft in shallow waters Template:Convert off Le Galawa Beach Hotel, near Mitsamiouli at the northern end of Grande Comore island. Leul attempted to land parallel with the waves instead of against the waves in an effort to smooth the landing. Seconds prior to contacting the water, the aircraft was banked left some ten degrees;<ref name="Ethiopian hijacking results in worst-ever fatalities" /> the left engine and wingtip struck the water first. The engine acted as a scoop and struck a coral reef, slowing that side of the aircraft quickly and causing the Boeing 767 to suddenly tilt left. The rest of the aircraft then entered the water unevenly, causing it to cartwheel and break apart. Except for the rear part of the airframe, the broken portions of the fuselage sank rapidly.<ref name="Ethiopian hijacking results in worst-ever fatalities" /> Many passengers died because they prematurely inflated their life jackets in the cabin, causing them to be trapped inside by the sinking plane.Template:Cn

Island residents and tourists, including a group of scuba divers and some French and Indian doctors on vacation, came to the aid of crash survivors.<ref name="Previous jet ditchings yielded survival lessons"/><ref name="AfricanHijack"/> A tourist recorded a video of ET-AIZ crashing. She said that she had begun taping because she initially believed that the 767 formed a part of an air show for tourists.<ref name="Honeymooners capture dramatic images of Ethiopian jet crash" />

Medical treatment and repatriation of bodies

Survivors were initially taken to Mitsamiouli Hospital, less than Template:Convert away from the crash site. The passengers were transferred to El-Maarouf Regional Hospital Centre in Moroni the same day.<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page The two French people who survived and 19 injured were transported to Réunion.<ref name="ECAA" /> In Réunion, one of the injured died, making the death toll 125.<ref name="ECAA" /> Excluding those transported to Réunion, survivors were transported to Kenya and South Africa.<ref name="ECAA" />

At the time, there was no mortuary in Moroni, so cold rooms were used to store 124 bodies.<ref name="ECAA" />

Investigation

Template:Expand section On 3 December 1996, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation of the Comoros (Template:Langx) agreed to delegate the investigation of ET961 to the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA).<ref name="ECAA" /> The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) analysed the flight recorders.<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page

Fate of the passengers and crew

The final accident report includes a listing of surviving and dead passengers and crew. All 12 crew members were Ethiopians. Six survived, including the captain and first officer.<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page

The passengers originated from 36 countries.

The passenger manifest (including hijackers but not crew members) follows:

Nationality Number on board Fatalities Survivors
Austria 1 1 0
Belgium 1 1 0
Benin 2 2 0
Cameroon 2 2 0
Canada 1 1 0
Chad 1 1 0
Congo 5 3 2
Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) 1 1 0
Djibouti 2 0 2
Egypt 1 1 0
Ethiopia 19 16 3
France 4 2 2
Germany 1 1 0
Hungary 1 1 0
India 20 14 6
Israel 8 7 1
Italy 4 0 4
Japan 2 1 1
Kenya 14 8 6
South Korea 1 1 0
Lesotho 1 0 1
Liberia 2 2 0
Mali 12 9 3
Nigeria 23 19 4
Pakistan 1 1 0
Sierra Leone 1 1 0
Somalia 1 1 0
Sri Lanka 9 9 0
Sweden 2 2 0
Switzerland 1 1 0
Uganda 1 0 1
Ukraine 4 1 3
United Kingdom 7 5 2
United States 5 2 3
Yemen 1 1 0
[[Zaire|ZaireTemplate:Efn]] 1 1 0
Total 163 119 44
Seat map showing dead and surviving passengers and crew. The two pilots are not shown in the figure; they both survived with serious injuries.

The dead passenger count includes the three hijackers.<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page Of the passengers, 42 originated in Mumbai, including:<ref name="NYT"/>

  • 3 Americans
  • 9 Nigerians
  • 9 Sri Lankans
  • 19 Indians

The rest of the passengers originated in Addis Ababa.

Of the 175 passengers and crew members, 125 were killed, including the three hijackers. According to the accident report, all six surviving crew members and 38 passengers received serious injuries, two passengers received minor injuries, and four passengers received no injuries.<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page One passenger, an Ethiopian, was identified as a child on the manifest; this passenger was among the dead.<ref name="ECAA" />Template:Reference page

Many of the passengers survived the initial crash, but they had disregarded, did not understand, or did not hear Leul's warning not to inflate their life jackets inside the aircraft, causing them to be pushed against the ceiling of the fuselage by the inflated life jackets when water flooded in. Unable to escape, they drowned. An estimated 60 to 80 passengers, strapped to their seats, presumably drowned.<ref name="Plane is hijacked; crashes in ocean off East Africa"/><ref name="Ethiopian airline crash kills at least 50"/>

Leul and Yonas both survived. For his actions, Leul was awarded the Flight Safety Foundation Professionalism in Flight Safety Award.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Notable passengers

Among those killed was Mohamed Amin, a wartime photojournalist and publisher of Selamta, Ethiopian Airlines' in-flight magazine.<ref>Episode Seven, Mo & Me: Part 1, Part 2</ref> He was believed to be standing near the entrance to the cockpit arguing or negotiating with the hijacker presumed to be guarding the cockpit during the final moments of the flight.<ref name="AfricanHijack" />

Franklin Huddle, the U.S. Consul General of Bombay at the time, and his wife both survived the crash.<ref name="FinishedLife">Template:Cite news</ref> Huddle said that he chose to fly on Ethiopian Airlines while planning a safari trip to Kenya because of the airline's reputation; it was one of the few airlines in Africa to have Federal Aviation Administration certification. Huddle wanted a flight during the day, reasoning that flying during the day was "safer".<ref name="AfricanHijack"/> He credits his and his wife's survival to a last-minute upgrade to business class.<ref name="Brown">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

CIA operative Leslianne Shedd was killed in the crash. A survivor saw her helping other passengers, including an elderly Ethiopian woman, put on their life vests. She was given a star on the CIA Memorial Wall.<ref name="CIAdiscloses">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Maps

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Aftermath

A memorial service was held in Galawa on 30 November 1996.<ref name="ECAA" />

The incident has become a well-known hijacking because of the videotape.<ref name="Honeymooners capture dramatic images of Ethiopian jet crash"/> This was one of very few large airliner water landings, and it was the first water landing due to hijacking. Both the captain and first officer of the flight received aviation awards, and both continued to fly for Ethiopian Airlines,<ref name="AfricanHijack"/> although Leul considers Yonas, the first officer, the real hero. Yonas fought the hijackers while he himself was bruised and bleeding, giving time for Leul to land the airplane. "He was a life-saver", Leul said.<ref name=":1" />

In the media

In 2005, the crash was featured in an episode of the TV show Mayday with the title "Ocean Landing"; the episode is from season 3, episode 12.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In 2009, it was featured in the episode "Death Be Not Stupid" of the TV series 1000 Ways to Die; episode 9 from season 1.<ref> Template:Citation</ref>

It was also featured in a 2010 episode of the Biography Channel series I Survived..., in which a survivor told his story of what happened on the plane.<ref name="I Survived">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

Template:Portal

References

Informational notes Template:Notelist

Citations Template:Reflist

Template:Sister project

Template:Ethiopian Airlines Template:Commercial ditchings Template:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1996

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