Today is Saturday, September 5th, 2020.

On this day in 1986, four hijackers attacked Pan Am Flight 73 on a runway in Pakistan, resulting in the deaths of over 20 passengers and crew.

Welcome to today in True Crime, a parcast original. Due to the graphic nature of today's crimes,

listener discretion is advised. Extreme caution is advised for listeners under 13.

Today we're covering the hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73, an international flight from Mumbai to New York

City.

Let's go back to the skies over Pakistan, a little after 4 a.m. on September 5th 1986. 23 year old head flight attendant near Jubb a note was tired.

After an early morning departure from Mumbai, she was looking forward to a brief respite while the Boeing 747 was holding for a scheduled stop in Karachi.

As she buckled into her seat for landing, she looked over the faces of the nearly 400 passengers

on the plane. Most were still dozing when the wheels hit the tarmac at 4.55 a.m.

Once the engines shut down,

Nierja opened the main front door

to allow passengers to disembark.

109 of them got off in Pakistan.

Several dozen were taking their place for the journey,

which would fly to Frankfurt before heading to New York.

As the first busload of new passengers arrived at the boarding steps,

Nairjaw saw an official Pakistani security van screeched to a halt nearby.

The van had a light and siren, but it was the four heavily armed

men who jumped out of the car that got everybody's attention.

The four men rushed up the plane's stairs in a dead sprint, big black guns in hand.

One of them opened fire on two mechanics standing near the front of the plane. That's when Niergea realized they weren't

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