COMORO ISLANDS/ KENYA: PILOT OF HIJACKED ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES BOEING 747 PLANE WHICH CRASHED INTO THE INDIA OCEAN, DESCRIBES HIS ORDEAL

Record ID: 363847

  • Title: COMORO ISLANDS/ KENYA: PILOT OF HIJACKED ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES BOEING 747 PLANE WHICH CRASHED INTO THE INDIA OCEAN, DESCRIBES HIS ORDEAL
  • Date: 29th November 1996
  • Summary: COMORO ISLANDS/ NAIROBI, KENYA (NOVEMBER 29, 1996/ RECENT) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) COMORO ISLANDS (RECENT) 1. GENERAL VIEW OF BEACH AND WRECKAGE 0.02 2. LV WRECKAGE OF ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES PLANE BOEING 747 , FLIGHT ET 961 IN WATER (2 SHOTS) 0.22 NAIROBI, KENYA (NOVEMBER 29, 1996) 3. SLV CAPTAIN LEUL ABATE, PILOT, IN HOSPITAL SITTING WITH HIS WIFE/ SCU WIFE (2 SHOTS) 0.28 4. SCU ABATE DESCRIBING HOW HE WARNED THE HIJACKERS HE WAS RUNNING SHORT OF FUEL."WE APPROACHED THE ISLAND. I TRIED TO DO SOME MANOEUVRES. IN THE MEANTIME THEY TRIED TO FLY THE AEROPLANE EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NOT PILOTS, AND AS ONE ENGINE WENT DOWN I TOLD THEM THAT FUEL WAS GOING DOWN AND THEY KNEW ABOUT IT BECAUSE I WAS SHOWING THEM THE FUEL GAUGE AND ONE ENGINE FLAMED OUT THEN I HAD TO TAKE OVER AND START THE DESCENT, AND HE WAS REFUSING NOT TO DESCEND - I WAS DOING IT ON MY OWN, THEN AS WE WENT THROUGH 25,000 FT HE SAID IF YOU GO BELOW 20,000 FEET I WILL BLOW UP THE AEROPLANE. I TOLD HIM LISTEN GUYS WE'RE ALL DEAD PEOPLE THERE'S NO ARGUMENT NOW. AND HE WAS STRUGGLING WITH ME ON THE CONTROLS - INTERFERING WITH THE CONTROLS. I MANAGED TO RECOVER. AS WE WENT THROUGH 20,000 FEET HE WENT BACK TO THE CABIN AND THEN HE CAME BACK. SO I WAS TRYING TO KEEP THE PLANE FLYING IT ALL THE WAY DOWN AND AFTER THE LAST TWO MINUTES MY FIRST OFFICER RUSHED INTO THE COCKPIT AND ASSISTED ME IN THE FINAL DITCHING OF THE AEROPLANE (ENGLISH) 1.54 COMORO ISLANDS (RECENT) 5. SLV BODY BEING STRETCHERED UP THE BEACH/ ONLOOKERS (2 SHOTS) 2.13 NAIROBI (NOVEMBER 29, 1996) 6. SCU ABATE SAYING HE IS NOT A HERO - HE JUST DID HIS DUTY ACCORDING TO HIS PROFESSION (ENGLISH) 2.23 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 14th December 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: COMORO ISLANDS/ NAIROBI, KENYA
  • City:
  • Country: AFRICA Comoros
  • Reuters ID: LVA9B91NGX4UPNTTZQ8Y6C19GUB1
  • Story Text: The pilot of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 (flight ET 961) which crashed into the Indian ocean on Saturday (November 23), recounted on Friday (November 29) his terrifying ordeal as fuel steadily run out while the three hijackers insisted on flying to to Australia.

    Captain Leul Abate, 42, one of 50 survivors, told Reuters from his bed in a Nairobi hospital how the men stormed the flight deck after take-off from Addis Ababa on Saturday (November 23).

    The hijackers at first ignored his attempts, helped by air traffic controllers in the Kenyan city of Mombasa, to persuade them he needed to refuel before going to Australia.

    "After some argument I think they understood we could not go to Australia (without stops).", Leul said.

    But they nevertheless refused to land at Mombasa.

    Leul said the hijackers, who were not trained as pilots, were trying to fly the plane. He said they knew that fuel was running out because he showed them the fuel gauges.

    The hijackers realised Leul was hugging the coast heading south and told him to head east across the Indian Ocean. He made for the Indian ocean Comoro Islands.

    The hijackers, who spoke Ethiopia's Amharic language and French amongst themselves, warned Leul not to go below 39,000 feet.

    As the pilot went below 25,000, one of the hijackers said: "If you go any lower we will blow up the plane." "I said: "Listen, guys, we're all dead people, there is no argument now. He (the main hijacker) was struggling, interfering with the controls. He went back to the (first class) cabin, so I was trying to fly it all the way down. In the last two minutes my first officer rushed into the cockpit and he assisted me in the final ditching of the airplane," Leul added.

    The hijackers told Leul they had a bomb and threatened to blow up the airliner unless he did as told. One of the hijackers was brandishing an axe and two of them were drinking whisky on the flight deck throughout the episode.

    The identity and motives of the African hijackers who seized an Ethiopian Airlines plane, causing 125 deaths, remain a mystery more than a week after the crash.

    They are believed to have died in the crash but this has not been confirmed officially.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register