EgyptAir 737 Hijacked; Four Aboard Killed

VALLETTA, Malta —  Terrorists described as Egyptian revolutionaries Saturday seized an EgyptAir Boeing 737 carrying more than 100 people on a flight from Athens to Cairo and forced it to land here. A man identifying himself as one of the hijackers said by radio that four people on the plane had been killed.

“I am going to look for another American passport,” the man said in English, according to reporters at the Valletta airport monitoring radio conversations between the jetliner and the control tower.

The man then said “four bodies are under the plane and a fifth will follow” if the plane is not refueled, the reporters said.

‘He Is Very Serious’

They said another man then came to the radio, told the tower that he was the plane’s captain and said of the man who had been speaking, “He is very serious.”

In Washington, the State Department confirmed there were some Americans on the flight and also some casualties.

“There are Americans, an undetermined number. There are an unknown number of casualties on board the flight. We don’t know the nationalities of the casualties, with the exception of one injured American who has been taken to a local hospital.” said Dan Lawler, a State Department spokesman.

A later State Department report said the injured man was in good condition at the hospital.

An airport source, speaking on the condition he not be identified, said that a person speaking English was heard to say over the radio, “He is killing another one,” and that remark was followed by phrases in Arabic.

Reporters monitoring the control tower conversation said a man claiming to be a hijacker told airport authorities that a passenger would be killed every five minutes unless the plane was refueled.

‘I Demand Fuel’

The man who identified himself as the plane’s captain reportedly told the tower: “Another passenger is being prepared for execution. I demand fuel. I do not want more bloodshed. I am responsible for the safety of the passengers and the crew.”

Maltese Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, Foreign Minister Alex Sceberras Trigona and Health Minister Vincent Moran were at the airport talking by radio with the hijackers, according to the Maltese television report.

No demands from the terrorists, except for fuel, have been made public.

In Cairo, Egyptian aviation authorities said that the plane was commandeered by hijackers who called themselves “Egypt Revolution.”

The group opposes Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel and claimed responsibility for the slaying in Cairo last summer of Israeli diplomat Albert Atrakshe.

Atrakshe, 30, an administrative attache at the Israeli Embassy, was shot to death, and his wife and secretary were wounded when they were ambushed while driving to work. The gunmen were never apprehended.

Hijacked Over Milos

Officials at the Athens airport control tower said the EgyptAir plane had departed at 7:06 p.m. local time and was taken over 22 minutes later while flying over the Greek island of Milos. They said they understood the jet changed its course and headed toward Malta, 550 miles southwest of Athens, but they had no further information because it left Greek airspace.

Cairo’s Middle East News Agency said that after the hijackers seized control they radioed the Athens control tower and said they wanted to speak to an airline agent. It said EgyptAir agent Nasr Marai went to the tower and the hijackers told him they would announce their demands later and then broke off the radio connection.

The agency said authorities in Malta declared a state of emergency and announced the airport had been closed shortly after 10 p.m. when the plane landed on a darkened runway. The jetliner taxied to a remote section of the field that was then bathed in floodlights and cordoned off by police.

TWA Flight Recalled

The hijacking drama on Malta is reminiscent of the hijacking of Trans World Airways Flight 847 last June 14 after it left Athens for Rome with 153 people aboard.

The plane was forced back and forth between Lebanon and Algeria making stops in Beirut and Algiers. Most of the hostages were released during the stops, but Robert Dean Stethem, a U.S. navy diver, was killed by the hijackers and his body thrown on the tarmac at Beirut’s airport.

The hijackers eventually held 39 American hostages for 16 days while they sought freedom for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. On June 30, after Syria intervened, the terrorists freed the remaining hostages, who were taken to Damascus, Syria, and then home via West Germany.

During the hijacking crisis, the United States issued a travelers advisory urging Americans to “review the wisdom” of flying to Athens because of lax airport security. That advisory was lifted five weeks later after a U.S. inspection team reported improved security at the Greek airport.

Greek tourist officials say the advisory had caused about 12,000 Americans to cancel their vacations.