From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1973 Rome airport attacks and hijacking

Terrorist attacks

Field	Value
title	1973 Rome airport attacks
image	Strage di Fiumicino 1973 (1 of 11).jpg
location	{{Plainlist
map	{{Location map+	Middle East
width	300
caption	Initial attack site at Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino International Airport in Rome and hijacked airliner landing sites
float	center
label	Rome
label_size	130
position	left
background	white
mark	Red pog.svg
alt	Initial attack site at Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy
link	Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport
lat_deg	41	lat_min = 48	lat_sec = 01	lat_dir = N
lon_deg	12	lon_min = 14	lon_sec = 20	lon_dir = E
label	Athens
label_size	100
position	left
background	white
mark	Red pog.svg
alt	Intermediate landing site in Athens, Greece
link	Athens, Greece
lat_deg	37	lat_min = 53	lat_sec = 54	lat_dir = N
lon_deg	23	lon_min = 43	lon_sec = 46	lon_dir = E
label	Damascus
label_size	100
position	left
background	white
mark	Red pog.svg
alt	Intermediate landing site in Damascus, Syria
link	Damascus, Syria
lat_deg	33	lat_min = 24	lat_sec = 41	lat_dir = N
lon_deg	36	lon_min = 30	lon_sec = 56	lon_dir = E
label	Kuwait
label_size	130
position	right
background	white
mark	Red pog.svg
alt	Final landing site in Kuwait
link	Kuwait
lat_deg	29	lat_min = 13	lat_sec = 36	lat_dir = N
lon_deg	47	lon_min = 58	lon_sec = 48	lon_dir = E
target	Aircraft in Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport
timezone	CET / UTC+01:00
type	Terrorism, aircraft hijacking, hostage crisis, firebombing
coordinates
date	17–18 December 1973
fatalities	34
injuries	At least 22 (including 1 terrorist)
perps	Fatah

Rome, Italy (primary)
Athens, Greece
Damascus, Syria
Kuwait In December 1973, Fatah, a Palestinian military organization executed a series of attacks originating at Rome-Fiumicino Airport in Italy, resulting in the deaths of 34 people. The attacks began with an airport-terminal invasion and hostage-taking, followed by the firebombing of a Pan Am aircraft and the hijacking of a Lufthansa flight.

Pan Am Flight 110 was scheduled to depart from Rome, Italy and arrive in Tehran, Iran, by way of Beirut, Lebanon. On 17 December 1973, shortly before takeoff, the airport terminal and the flight aircraft were attacked and the aircraft was set on fire by armed Palestinian gunmen, resulting in the deaths of thirty persons on the plane and two in the terminal.

Following the Flight 110 attack, the gunmen hijacked Lufthansa Flight 303 and killed two more people. They ended up in the custody of the Kuwaiti authorities.

Background

Main article: Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon

Since the ousting of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from Jordan, following the Jordanian-Palestinian civil war, Palestinian military organizations made South Lebanon their headquarters and base of operations, enlisting militants from Palestinian refugee camps. South Lebanon was referred to as Fatah-land, due to the almost complete control of Fatah and other military Palestinian organizations over this -officially Lebanese- area, which they used to stage attacks against Israel, mainly targeting civilians, and to engage in armed operations abroad, termed "acts of terrorism."

Pan Am Flight 110

On 17 December 1973, Pan Am Flight 110 was scheduled to fly from Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Rome to Beirut International Airport in Lebanon and then on to Tehran, Iran. At the controls of the Boeing 707-321B (registration name Clipper Celestial) First Officer Robert Davison, and Flight engineer Kenneth Pfrang.

At approximately 12:51 local time in Rome, just as Flight 110 was preparing to taxi, five suspects made their way through the terminal building, armed with automatic firearms and grenades. The terrorists removed submachine guns from hand-luggage bags and began firing throughout the terminal, shattering windows and killing two people. Pilots and crew in the cockpit of the aircraft were able to observe travelers and airport employees in the building running for cover. Captain Erbeck announced over the plane's public address system that there was "some commotion" in the terminal and instructed all the people on board to get down on the floor.

Several of the gunmen ran across the tarmac toward the Pan American jet, throwing one phosphorus incendiary and other hand grenades through the open front and rear doors of the aircraft. The explosions knocked crew and passengers to the ground, and the cabin filled with thick, acrid smoke from the resulting fires. Stewardesses were able to open the emergency exit over the wing on one side of the plane; the other exit was obstructed by gunmen. The crew attempted to evacuate as many passengers as possible through the available exit, but twenty-nine passengers and purser Diana Perez heading to Iran for a visit, and Bonnie Erbeck, wife of the plane's captain, Captain Erbeck survived the attack. Also killed were fourteen Aramco employees and employee family members. The aircraft itself was destroyed.

Lufthansa Flight 303

Having assaulted the Pan Am aircraft, the five gunmen took hostage several Italians and Lufthansa ground crew members into Lufthansa Flight 303, waiting to depart for Munich. An Italian border police officer, 20-year-old Antonio Zara, was shot and killed when he first arrived at the scene of the attack and tried to fight the terrorists, after the general alarm had been sounded by the airport's control tower.

The hijackers then forced the crew already on board to move the plane towards the runway in order to take off. For the first part of the plane's taxiing, the aircraft was chased by several Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza vehicles, who abandoned the chase after the hijackers threatened to kill all the hostages on board. At 13:32 hours, just over half an hour from the start of the action, the plane took off for Athens, Greece, where it arrived at 16:50 hours, local Athens time.

The attack was too fast to allow an adequate response from the airport's police forces. At the time, 117 officers were on duty at the airport: 9 carabinieri, 46 customs officers and 62 State Police officers, of which 8 were employed in the anti-sabotage service, a negligible number for an intercontinental airport like Fiumicino. The airport structure was unsuitable for the prevention of terrorist attacks, as it was designed at a time when such events were rare.

Athens stopover

Upon landing in Athens, the terrorists demanded by radio the release of two Palestinian gunmen responsible for an attack on Hellinikon International Airport. The plane took off again from Athens after sixteen hours on the ground and after the gunmen had released the wounded hostage and dumped the body of the dead hostage onto the tarmac.

Damascus stopover

The plane next headed for Beirut, Lebanon, where Lebanese authorities refused to allow its landing, and blocked the runway with vehicles. Cyprus also refused to allow landing. The terrorists on board ordered the plane to head for Damascus, Syria, allegedly because the plane was running low on fuel. After they landed in the Syrian capital's airport, Air Force Commander Major General Naji Jamil attempted to persuade the Palestinians to release the hostages, but they refused. The Syrians provided food to everyone on board and refueled the plane. They also treated one of the hijackers for a head injury. The plane took off again two to three hours after landing.

Landing in Kuwait

The commandeered jet headed for Kuwait, where Kuwaiti authorities refused to allow it to land. Captain Kroese was ordered by the terrorists to land anyway on a secondary runway. An hour of negotiations between the terrorists and the Kuwaiti authorities ended with the release of all twelve remaining hostages

Aftermath

The terrorists negotiated their escape, but they were still captured shortly thereafter. The Kuwaiti authorities, after questioning the terrorists, decided not to put them on trial and considered the possibility of handing them over. The factors that came into play at this point were complex, and sparked a diplomatic case that saw the US and many Arab and European countries clashing over the fate of the terrorists and which nation had jurisdiction to prosecute them.

Italy, despite having made a formal request for extradition to the Arab emirate, appeared to have no real intention of detaining and trying the terrorists on its own territory, since the request was bound to fail (Italy had no extradition treaty with Kuwait). What probably encouraged Italy to relent in its efforts to take the matter under its command was the danger that detaining the suspects in Italian prisons could have exposed Italy to retaliation by other Palestinian terrorists in a bid for their release. Subsequently, in fact, the last terrorist who was held in Italy (responsible for the failed attack in Ostia in 1972) was also actually released, probably for the same reason. Other European countries such as the Netherlands also followed this line of thinking. Italy's actions lend credence to the notion that the Italian government had decided to consider the tragic events at Fiumicino in terms of its "national interest", whereby it engaged in compromise that tended towards humiliation.

After gruelling international wrangling, in 1974, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat agreed to the suspects being taken to Cairo under the responsibility of their group, who would process them for conducting an "unauthorized operation". They remained in prison until 24 November 1974, when, following negotiations further to the hijack of a British aircraft in Tunisia (carried out with the precise aim of forcing their release), the five men in the commando were released in Tunisia with the complicity of a good number of Arab and European governments and the US. Thereafter, all news of the men ceased and they were spirited away, perhaps hosted in an Arab country where they went unpunished.

Gallery

File:Strage di Fiumicino 1973 (2 of 11).jpg File:Strage di Fiumicino 1973 (10 of 11).jpg File:Strage di Fiumicino 1973 (9 of 11).jpg File:Strage di Fiumicino 1973 (5 of 11).jpg File:Strage di Fiumicino 1973 (8 of 11).jpg

References

Sources

Death in Rome Aboard Flight 110, TIME, 31 December 1973. Retrieved on 10 April 2007.
"Arab Hijackers Land in Kuwait; Hostages Freed". The New York Times, 19 December 1973. Page 1.
"Arab Guerrillas Kill 31 in Rome During Attack on U.S. Airliner, Take Hostages and Go to Athens". The New York Times, 18 December 1973. Page 1.
Athens attack leaves 3 dead, BBC News, 5 August 1973. Retrieved on 10 April 2007.
Gabriele Paradisi, Rosario Priore: La strage dimenticata Fiumicino 17 December 1973, Reggio Emilia 2015.

References

RAND Corporation. (3 April 2001). "TKB Incident Page: Other Group attacked Airports & Airlines target (Dec. 17, 1973, Italy)". [[Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism]].
(2012). "Incident Summary for GTDID: 197312170002". [[National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism]] (START).
(2012). "Incident Summary for GTDID: 197312170003". [[National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism]] (START).
(18 December 1973). "Pilots Wife Died in Fire". Newspapers, Inc..
(19 December 1973). "State Man Recalls Attack". [[The Milwaukee Sentinel]].
(27 December 1973). "Rome hijacking". IPC Transport Press Ltd.
(19 December 1973). "It's a Bleak Christmas For Friends, Kin of Dead". [[The Evening Independent]].
"TERRORIST ATTACK IN THE ROME AIRPORT – DECEMBER 1973". Aramco ExPats Corporation.
"N407PA (cn 18838/412) "Clipper Celestial"". Demand Media, Inc..
(11 February 2015). "Hijacking description: Monday 17 December 1973". [[Flight Safety Foundation]].
(19 December 1973). "Hijackers kill 30 in airport bombing". [[Papua New Guinea Post-courier]].
(31 December 1973). "TERRORISM: Death in Rome Aboard Flight 110".
(26 January 1975). "Gunmen Punished, P.L.O. Announces". [[The New York Times]].

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

december-1973-in-the-united-states 1970s-in-lazio accidents-and-incidents-involving-the-boeing-707 accidents-and-incidents-involving-the-boeing-737-original aircraft-hijackings-in-europe arson-attacks-on-vehicles-in-europe arson-in-italy aviation-accidents-and-incidents-in-1973 aviation-accidents-and-incidents-in-italy aviation-accidents-and-incidents-in-greece aviation-accidents-and-incidents-in-kuwait aviation-accidents-and-incidents-in-syria arson-in-1973 grenade-attacks-in-italy december-1973-in-europe explosions-in-1973 fiumicino lufthansa-accidents-and-incidents 1973-mass-murders 20th-century-mass-murders-in-italy murder-in-rome palestinian-terrorist-incidents-in-italy pan-am-accidents-and-incidents attacks-on-aircraft-by-palestinian-militant-groups terrorist-attacks-on-airports-in-europe terrorist-incidents-in-europe-in-1973 terrorist-incidents-in-greece-in-the-1970s palestinian-terrorist-incidents-in-greece 1973-in-italy terrorist-incidents-in-italy-in-the-1970s terrorist-incidents-in-kuwait terrorist-incidents-in-lazio terrorist-incidents-in-syria-in-1973 terrorist-incidents-involving-incendiary-devices attacks-on-buildings-and-structures-in-italy attacks-on-buildings-and-structures-in-1973

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1973 Rome airport attacks and hijacking — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report