Japan Air Lines Flight 472 (1977)
Hijacking | |
---|---|
Date | 28 September 1977 |
Summary | Hijacking |
Site | Dhaka International Airport, Bangladesh |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Douglas DC-8-62[1] |
Operator | Japan Air Lines |
Registration | JA8033[2] |
Flight origin | Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France |
Stopover | Santacruz Airport, Bombay, India |
Destination | Tokyo International Airport, Tokyo, Japan |
Passengers | 142 (including 5 hijackers) |
Crew | 14 |
Fatalities | 0 |
Survivors | 156 (all) |
Japan Air Lines Flight 472 was an aircraft hijacking carried out by the Japanese Red Army (JRA) on 28 September 1977.
Incident[]
The Douglas DC-8, en route from Paris to Haneda Airport in Tokyo with 156 people on board, stopped in Bombay, India. Shortly after taking off from Bombay, five armed JRA members, led by Osamu Maruoka, hijacked the aircraft and ordered it flown to Dhaka, Bangladesh. At Dhaka, the hijackers took the passengers and crew hostage, demanding US$6 million and the release of nine imprisoned JRA members.
On 1 October Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda announced that the Japanese government would accept the hijackers' demands, on the principle that "the life of a single person outweighs the earth." Six of the imprisoned JRA members were then released.[1]
A chartered Japan Airlines flight carried the money and the six released JRA members to Dhaka, where the exchange took place on 2 October. The hijackers released 118 passengers and crew members. On 3 October, they flew to Kuwait City and Damascus, where they released eleven more hostages. Finally, the aircraft was flown to Algeria, where it was impounded by authorities and the remaining hostages were freed.[1]
List of hijackers and released prisoners[]
Fugitives’ portraits from the official website of The Metropolitan police departments (in Japanese) | |
---|---|
Bando in c. 1987 | |
Sasaki in c. 1998 | |
Okudaira in c. 1998 | |
Daidōji in c. 1994 | |
Nihei in 1976 |
Hijackers[]
- Osamu Maruoka (丸岡 修, Maruoka Osamu)
- (佐々木 規夫, Sasaki Norio) , is still at large
- Kunio Bandō (坂東 國男, Bandō Kunio), is still at large
- Jun Nishikawa (西川 純, Nishikawa Jun)
- Haruo Wakō (和光 晴生, Wakō Haruo), hasn’t been charged with this hijacking
Released prisoners[]
- Junzō Okudaira (奥平 純三, Okudaira Junzō), is still at large
- (城崎 勉, Shirosaki Tsutomu)
- (大道寺 あや子, Daidōji Ayako), is still at large
- Yukiko Ekida (浴田 由紀子, Ekida Yukiko)
- Hiroshi Sensui (泉水 博, Sensui Hiroshi)
- (仁平 映, Nihei Akira), is still at large
Aftermath[]
The incident contrasted the European and American approach of non-negotiation with terrorists to Japan's approach of appeasing terrorists if necessary. Shortly after the incident, Japan's National Police Agency established a Special Assault Team to deal with future acts of terrorism. Several of the JRA terrorists involved in the hijacking have yet to be apprehended and their current whereabouts are unknown.[3]
Osamu Maruoka, who also led the hijacking of Japan Air Lines Flight 404 in 1973, escaped and remained a fugitive until 1987 when he was arrested in Tokyo after entering Japan on a forged passport. Given a life sentence, he died in prison on 29 May 2011.[4] Another of the hijackers, Jun Nishikawa, eventually returned to Japan, was arrested, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.[5]
Further reading[]
- Wells, Carole HIJACKED: An Eyewitness Account of Evil (, 14 September 2018, ISBN 978-1732490901)
See also[]
Notes[]
- ^ a b c Schreiber, p. 216.
- ^ JA8033 ダッカ ハイジャック政府派遣特別機 添乗整備記録 (Archive)(in Japanese)
- ^ Schreiber, p. 216–217.
- ^ "Ex-Red Army member Maruoka dies", Japan Times, 30 May 2011.
- ^ Kyodo News, "Japanese Red Army member's life sentence to stand", The Japan Times, 15 September 2011, p. 2.
References[]
- Schreiber, Mark (1996). Shocking Crimes of Postwar Japan. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 4-900737-34-8.
- 1977 in Japan
- 1977 in Bangladesh
- Aircraft hijackings
- Aviation accidents and incidents in Bangladesh
- Aviation accidents and incidents in 1977
- Hostage taking in Bangladesh
- Japan Airlines accidents and incidents
- Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-8
- 1977 crimes in Bangladesh
- September 1977 events in Asia
- Terrorist incidents in Japan in the 1970s
- Terrorist incidents in Asia in 1977
- 1977 crimes in Japan
- September 1977 crimes
- Japanese Red Army