Editing TWA Flight 847 (section)

== Hijacking events ==
<small>''All times are in Algiers time unless otherwise noted''</small>

Flight 847 was operated with a Boeing 727–200, [[Aircraft registration|registration]] {{Airreg|N|64339|.}} The flight originated in Cairo on the morning of June 14.

=== Day one ===
After an uneventful flight from Cairo to Athens, a new crew boarded Flight 847. The new crew in Athens were Captain John Testrake, [[first officer (aviation)|First Officer]] Phil Maresca, Flight Engineer [[Christian Zimmerman]], flight service manager [[Uli Derickson]], and flight attendants Judy Cox, Hazel Hesp, Elizabeth Howes, and Helen Sheahan.<ref name="zimmermann">See ''Hostage in a Hostage World: Hope aboard Hijacked TWA 847'' (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1985) for Zimmermann's account of this experience.</ref>

==== 10:10 a.m. ====
Flight 847 departs Athens for Rome. It was hijacked soon after takeoff<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=June 15, 1985 |title=Chronology of Hijacking of Flight 847 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/06/16/chronology-of-hijacking-of-flight-847/d1f01b11-ba49-456e-bad2-b7baa51df2bf/ |url-status=live |access-date=March 2, 2025 |work=The Washington Post}}</ref> by two [[Arabic]]-speaking [[Lebanese people|Lebanese]] men who had smuggled a pistol and two [[grenade]]s through the Athens airport security. One was identified later as [[Mohammed Ali Hammadi]], who was eventually captured and sentenced to life imprisonment in [[Germany]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nysun.com/editorials/thinking-of-robert-dean-stethem/86999/|title=Thinking of Robert Stethem|website=The New York Sun|access-date=2019-09-22|archive-date=2010-06-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616213002/https://www.nysun.com/editorials/thinking-of-robert-dean-stethem/86999/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Hamadi is an alleged member of Hezbollah.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122001615.html|title=Hijacker Sought By U.S. Released|last=Whitlock|first=Craig|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=2005-12-21|access-date=2018-04-09|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> 

The hijackers assaulted Derickson, dragged her by her hair and breached the cockpit and proceeded to attack and pistol-whip Testrake, Maresca, and Zimmerman.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=The Judean |date=2022-06-14 |title=This Day In History: Hezbollah Terrorists Hijack TWA Flight 847 |url=https://thejudean.com/index.php/history/47-this-day-in-history-hezbollah-terrorists-hijack-twa-flight-847 |access-date=2025-03-04 |website=The Judean |language=en-GB}}</ref>

While still in Greek airspace and with Captain Testrake being held at gunpoint, the hijackers forced the airplane to divert from its original destination of Rome, to the [[Middle East]].

==== 11:57 a.m. ====
The now hijacked plane made its first stop, at the [[Beirut International Airport]] in Lebanon.<ref name=":0" /> 

Shortly before they were allowed to land Captain Testrake argued with air traffic control, who initially refused to let them land in Beirut, until they relented. When Beirut air traffic control tried to talk to the hijackers, Testrake interrupted, "He has pulled a hand-grenade pin and he is ready to blow up the aircraft if he has to. We must, I repeat, we must land at Beirut. We must land at Beirut. No alternative."<ref name="NYTimes">{{cite news |date=June 15, 1985 |title=He's Pulled a Grenade Pin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/15/world/he-s-pulled-a-grenade-pin.html |access-date=May 23, 2015 |newspaper=The New York Times |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> 

They remained in Beirut for several hours where 19 passengers were allowed to leave in exchange for fuel.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Berger |first1=Joseph |title=Gunmen Seize Jet in Mideast Flight; Passenger Killed |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/15/world/gunmen-seize-jet-in-mideast-flight-passenger-killed.html |work=The New York Times |issue=46441 |volume=134|date=15 June 1985}}</ref> 

At the time, Lebanon was in the midst of the [[Lebanese Civil War]], and Beirut was divided into sectors controlled by different Shia [[Amal Militia|Amal militia]] and Hezbollah. 

The aircraft departed Beirut at 1:30 p.m.<ref name=":0" /> 

==== 3:30 p.m. ====
After crossing the [[Mediterranean Sea]] the aircraft arrived at [[Houari Boumediene Airport|Algiers International Airport]] in [[Algeria]]. During their five-hour stop in Algiers the hijackers issued their demands, which included: 

*Release of the "Kuwait 17", those involved in the [[1983 Kuwait bombings|1983 bombings]] of the U.S. embassy in Kuwait<ref name="PBS">{{cite web |title=Hijacking of TWA Flight 1847 |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/etc/cron.html |access-date=12 January 2013 |publisher=[[PBS]]}}</ref> 
* Release of all 766 mainly Lebanese Shias transferred to [[Israel]]'s Atleat Prison<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gwertzman |first1=Bernard |date=21 June 1985 |title=U.S. Aides Say Hostage Release Would Free 766 Held in Israel |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/21/world/us-aides-say-hostage-release-would-free-766-held-israel-formal-link-steps-barred.html |work=The New York Times |volume=134 |issue=46447}}</ref> in conjunction with immediate withdrawal of [[Israeli forces]] from [[southern Lebanon]]<ref name="time" /><ref name="Ranstorp, Magnus 1997, p.95">Ranstorp, Magnus, ''Hizb'allah in Lebanon: The Politics of the Western Hostage Crisis'', New York, St. Martins Press, 1997, p. 95. {{oclc|89805638}}</ref>
* International condemnation of Israel and the [[United States]].<ref name="time" />

21 passengers were released before heading back to Beirut at 8:25 that night.<ref name=":0" />

=== Day two ===
[[File:SW2 Robert Stethem.jpg|thumbnail|Robert Stethem]]
Beirut International Airport was surrounded by a [[Shia]] neighborhood. It had no [[perimeter security]] and had been overrun by Islamist militias, and nearby residents could simply drive onto the runway.

==== 2:20 a.m. ====
The aircraft arrives in Beirut for the second time. 

The hijackers had systematically and regularly beaten all the military passengers, but during this stop, they selected [[U.S. Navy]] diver, [[Robert Stethem]], beat him, shot him in the right temple, and dumped his body out of the plane onto the ramp and shot him again.<sup>†</sup><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{cite report |last= |first= |date=21 September 1999 |orig-date=15 March 1986 |title=The Hijacking of TWA 847 |url=https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/public/2024-10/40-447-93195-001-2023.pdf |work= |location= |publisher= |docket= |access-date=5 March 2025 |pages=4-8 |via=[[Ronald Reagan Library]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=TWA flight 847 is hijacked by terrorists {{!}} June 14, 1985 |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/twa-flight-847-is-hijacked-by-terrorists |access-date=2025-03-04 |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref> 

During the stopover seven American passengers, alleged to have Jewish-sounding surnames, were taken off the jet and kept captive in a Shia prison in Beirut, while an additional dozen or so terrorists boarded the flight.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-8105.html|title=Lebanon – The Hostage Crisis|website=www.country-data.com}}</ref>

The airplane then departed Beirut at 5:40 a.m.

==== 7:50 a.m. ====
Flight 847 returns to Algiers where it will spend twenty-five hours on the ground.

Algerian officials boarded the plane to begin negotiations with the terrorists.

The terrorists released three hostages from the aircraft shortly after landing. The [[Greek government]] also released an accomplice to the hijackers, [[Ali Atwa]], who was flown to Algiers. In exchange the hijackers released eight Greek citizens, including Greek popular singer [[Demis Roussos]], to be flown by a Greek government business jet from Algiers back to Athens.

All in all 66 hostages, 61 passengers and all 5 female cabin crew members were released in Algiers.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Berger |first1=Joseph |date=16 June 1985 |title=Hijackers Release Over 60 From Jet in Algiers Airport |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/16/world/hijackers-release-over-60-from-jet-in-algiers-airport.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |volume=134 |issue=46442}}</ref><ref name=":2" />

=== Day three ===

==== 12:45 p.m. ====
The aircraft arrives in Beirut, where it would remain for the remainder of the crisis. 

After landing the remaining 29 passengers are removed from the plane and kept captive in Beirut

=== Days four through seventeen  ===
By the afternoon of June 17, the 40 hostages remaining had been taken from the airplane and kept captive throughout Beirut by Hezbollah.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rohter |first1=Larry |title=Passengers Taken From Hijacked Jet, Lebanese Reports |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/18/world/passengers-taken-from-hijacked-jet-lebanese-reports.html |work=The New York Times |issue=46444 |volume=134|date=18 June 1985}}</ref> [[Nabih Berri]] was the chief of the Amal militia and the minister of justice in the fractured Lebanon cabinet. One of the hostages was released on 26 June when he developed heart trouble. The other 39 remained captive until June 30 when they were collected in a local schoolyard after an intervention by [[U.S. President]] [[Ronald Reagan]] along with Lebanese officials.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Weinraub |first1=Bernard |title=39 American Hostages Free After 17 Days |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/01/world/39-american-hostages-free-after-17-days-go-from-lebanon-to-syria-and-head-home-090944.html |work=The New York Times |volume=134|issue=46457 |date=1 July 1985}}</ref> The intervention involved a settlement negotiated by [[Abraham David Sofaer|Abraham Sofaer]], the Legal Advisor to Reagan's State Department, in which the hostages were released in exchange for Israeli release of Lebanese prisoners. Sofaer argued that this action did not constitute acquiescence to the terrorist's demands because the U.S had objected to Israel’s imprisonment of Lebanese prisoners prior to the incident.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Oberdorfer |first=Dan |title=Abraham Sofaer: Players State’s Legal Adviser Deals with Policy, Then the Law |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=March 10, 1986 |page=A13 }}  
</ref> The released hostages then met with international journalists and were driven to [[Syria]] by the [[International Red Cross]] to the Sheraton Hotel and a press conference in [[Damascus]].

The hostages then boarded a U.S. Air Force [[C-141B Starlifter]] cargo plane and flew to [[Rhein-Main AB]], [[Hesse]], [[West Germany]], where they were met by [[U.S. Vice President]] [[George H. W. Bush]], debriefed, given medical examinations, then flown to [[Andrews Air Force Base]] in [[Maryland]] and welcomed home by the president. Over the next several weeks, Israel released over 700 Shia prisoners, while maintaining that the prisoners' release was not related to the hijacking.<ref name="Photius">{{Cite web|url=https://www.photius.com/countries/lebanon/national_security/lebanon_national_security_the_hostage_crisis.html|title=Lebanon The Hostage Crisis – Flags, Maps, Economy, History, Climate, Natural Resources, Current Issues, International Agreements, Population, Social Statistics, Political System|website=www.photius.com}}</ref>