India-Afghanistan- Pakistan: Hostages Freed From A Hijacked Indian Airlines Plane Arrive Back In New Delhi

Record ID: 4174

  • Title: India-Afghanistan- Pakistan: Hostages Freed From A Hijacked Indian Airlines Plane Arrive Back In New Delhi
  • Date: 31st December 1999
  • Summary: More than 150 hostages freed from a hijacked Indian Airlines plane arrived in New Delhi hours before the new millennium after a week-long ordeal that spanned five countries and cost a new groom his life. The passengers looked weary, but some grinned widely as they wobbled down the steps of two planes, which brought them from southern Afghanistan, where the hostage crisis ended. One man stooped down and kissed the ground. Waiting relatives threw bouquets of flowers into the air and garlanded arriving passengers. Some of the hostages had to be supported to walk, but still waved weakly to the euphoric crowd. All passengers and crew walked to freedom earlier on Friday after India agreed to hijackers' scaled-down demands to free three Kashmiri militants from jail and allow them to walk away. The masked hijackers, who stabbed the newly married man to death for removing his blindfold last weekend, climbed down steps under the cockpit and drove into the Afghan city of Kandahar in a deal personally overseen by Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh. India has thanked the Taleban regime in Afghanistan, a government it does not have diplomatic ties with, for its help in getting the hostages aboard the hijacked Indian Airlines plane released. Pakistan welcomed the end of the hijacking. "The end of the hijacking episode of the Indian Airlines plane is a matter of satisfaction to the government of Pakistan," Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Tariq Altaf said.
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  • Location: INDIA DELHI
  • Reuters ID: LDL0012C3RY6V
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
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  • Copyright Holder: Reuters Archive
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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