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Home > News > The Hijack: One Year On |
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Captain Devi Sharan -- commander of the hijacked Flight 814 -- has been a busy man. Talking to newsmen.
Writing books. Flying to the USA to collect an air safety award. Appearing before the CBI and FBI, agencies investigating that nightmare.
Though Captain Sharan has been flying on various
sectors since then, the faces of the hijackers still return to haunt him. "How can I forget the experience? While the others were worried about themselves, I was worried about the safety of the passengers. As captain of the flight, they were
my responsibility," he says.
He is scheduled to fly the New Delhi-Kathmandu sector on December 24, the day the Boeing was hijacked last year, along with IC 814 co-pilot Rajinder Kumar and flight engineer Anil Jaggia -- now on a job extension with Indian Airlines. Although Indian Airlines denies observing the day as an anniversary, some members of the cabin crew may also join Captain Sharan on the flight.
In an exclusive interview to Special Correspondent
On December 24, it will be a year since the hijack. Have you forgotten the incident?
How can I ever hope to forget an incident of
that nature? I am living the incident every moment of
my life. It remains on my mind. Not a single day has
passed in the last year when I have not remembered details of the hijack. It is deeply etched in
my mind.
Since I was writing a book and giving interviews -- this provided another reason for me not to
forget the incident. The book was released in September.
Is it true you are flying the Delhi-Kathmandu sector on December 24?
Yes, we have been asked to fly on the Delhi-Kathmandu sector on December 24. My co-pilot Rajinder
Kumar and flight engineer Anil Jaggia will also be on the flight. I am not sure if the entire cabin crew will turn up for the flight, but some air-hostesses have volunteered.
This is a sort of remembrance for that flight on that day. We would like to be together on this occasion. We would also like to send a message to the terrorists that no matter how
hard they try to intimidate us, we will not get intimidated.
Has anything changed in your life? Have the
passengers been in touch with you?
I have received lot of love and affection from
the people world over, including the passengers on the
flight. I have got an award for air safety from an
American organisation. This year has been very
pleasant for me because after the release of the
passengers I have received attention from young and old alike.
After a week's layoff you started flying again.
How was the experience of flying after the prolonged hijack drama?
I am paid for flying an aircraft. So I could
not have sat back and said I will not fly
anymore. I have enjoyed flying on almost all
sectors whether domestic or international. I have
been flying the Delhi-Kathmandu sector at least once
a week. Besides, it was important that I shook
off any feeling of fear and continued flying without
any hindrance.
Are you satisfied with the security
arrangements at the Tribhuvan airport in Kathmandu?
Yes, I am satisfied with the security
arrangements. We have an effective security check
before a passenger is allowed to board the aircraft.
We have our own people who frisk passengers and
check for any weapon at the foot of the ladder leading to the
aircraft.
What lessons have you learnt from the
incident?
If you are asking what lessons I have learnt
in person, then I can tell you that I am more alert
than ever before. I am more careful. Of course, the
people in charge of the security systems have learnt
their lessons as well.
Have there been moments when the incident
has sent shivers down your spine?
It happens almost twice a week. Even in my
dreams, I can see those hijackers somewhere or the
other. They keep coming back every now and then. Maybe at
different places under different circumstances.
I will not say this is some sort of a trauma but it is
there. It will take sometime before it goes out of
my mind. It was a close encounter with death. For
eight days we did not know the possible outcome. We
could only feel this was the worst time.
But as captain I had to tell my passengers that
we would get out of the situation soon. There were four
or five of us who were determined that if they tried to
kill us, we would fight them. I kept telling the
passengers how to escape quickly and save themselves
in case they threw a grenade. Sometimes when I am
sleeping soundly they suddenly appear in my dream in
different situations.
When did they take over the plane?
We were over Lucknow and had completed almost
forty minutes of flying when a hijacker came into
the cockpit and told us that we should not make any
move as we have been hijacked. This was around 4.45 pm. Within five minutes, I could see four
other people menacingly moving up and down the
aircraft.
First they told me to change the direction
and fly west. Then they changed their mind and asked me
to take the aircraft to Lahore. I had no option but to
comply with their demands as they had so many weapons. Somehow I managed to convince them to land
in Amritsar.
We were there for 45 minutes. I was
hoping that someone would have the sense to park
the refuel tank in front of the aircraft. But nothing
happened. Suddenly they got a phone call on
their satellite phone and they panicked. They
asked me to take off. They told me if I did not take
off then they would start killing the passengers. They
said they had killed four people.
I sent Jaggia to confirm and he came back
terrified. Then we tried to land at the Lahore airport
after taking off from Amritsar airport. We were
denied permission. They closed all the runways and
shut down the airport lights. It was only after I
told them that the plane would crash because of
shortage of fuel that they opened one of the runways
for the aircraft.
Did you seek assistance at Lahore airport?
I tried my best to persuade the airport authorities to offload ladies and children and the
injured passengers Rupin Katyal and Satnam Singh.
They told me that under no circumstances would they
allow me to do that. Instead, they gave us fuel and
asked us to take off.
We then went to Kabul but were
told the large aircraft could not land there,
besides they have no landing facilities. Eventually,
Dubai airport was willing to give us permission to
land. We offloaded 26 passengers included women and
children, the injured Satnam Singh and Rupin Katyal's body. After some rest we took off
again and landed at Kandahar and were there till December 31, 1999 when we were eventually set free.
You were not prepared to face the biting cold of
Kandahar. How did you and the passengers manage?
We were not prepared to go to a place like
Kandahar. Nor were the passengers. Experience teaches you how to cope up with situations
like this. Our main concern was how to get out of the
situation and the bad weather.
What was the attitude of those present at the
airport?
The whole thing looked like a planned affair. When
we landed at Kandahar airport, the security guards were
waving to the hijackers and the hijackers in turn were
waving at them. When I saw this I said to myself that
we were in a hostile place and could not expect any help
from them. It took lot of effort to persuade the
hijackers to offload Anil Khurana who was diabetic. We had to convince them that was no
insulin (on the flight). It was after much reluctance that they
allowed him to disembark.
Are you concerned that your efforts have not been
rewarded properly?
For me my biggest award is the love and
appreciation that I have received from the passengers and
from people all over the
world.
Did the passengers and the crew show any signs of
the Stockholm syndrome?
On the face of it, we might have been friendly
with the hijackers but deep inside we hated them.
There was no question of being friendly with those who
were hijacking us. Yes, when the whole thing was over,
the chief hijacker told me to leave the plane as
quickly as possible.
Was it some sort of warning that they had planted
bombs on the aircraft?
On hindsight it seems so. But at that point
of time he did not tell me why he was saying so.
How long can Captain Sharan hold on? 'They had a gun at my neck all the time' The Nightmare of Flight 814: The complete coverage
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