True Life Tuesday: Neeja Bhanot

I often say that many of these stories should be made into movies. In this hero's case it was. She died while saving passengers from a hijacked plane.

Neeja Bhanot was born on September 7, 1963 in Chandigarh India. Her parents were Harish and Rama Bhanot. Her father was a journalist with The Hindustan Times for 30 years. She was raised with her two brothers in Bombay (modern day Mumbai). 

While she was a student at St. Xavier's college she began a modeling career. In 1985 she applied to be a flight attendant with Pan Am airlines. She went to Miami for training and returned to India as a purser - the main flight attendant on a crew. 

On September 5, 1986 she was on Pan Am flight 73 that was flying to New York from Bombay to the US with 380 passengers and 13 crew members. On a stop over in Karachi Pakistan four men hijacked the plane. They stated that they wanted to go to Cyprus to have some Pakistani prisoners' freed. The pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer escaped the plane using an overhead hatch in the cock pit. As the most senior crew member left on the plan Neeja took over the situation.

The hijackers were part of the Abu Nidal Organization that was targeting Americans and American interests. The hijackers located an Indian American on the plane, shot him and tossed his body from the plane. They told Neeja to collect the passports of the passengers so they could determine who the Americans were. She and the other flight attendants hid the passports of the 43 Americans left on the plane to protect them.

After 17 hours the hijackers opened fire and set off explosives fearing an attack from law enforcement. Neeja opened the emergency door and began assisting passengers off the plane. She was in the middle of getting 3 unaccompanied minors off the plane when a hijacker grabbed her by the hair and shot her at point blank range.

After her death she was the youngest person and the first woman to be awarded the Ashok Chakra Award - India's most prestigious award for bravery during peace time. She has also received many awards from the United States and Pakistani governments. With the insurance money her family created the Neeja Bhanot Trust. The trust gives out two awards each year. The first is for a worldwide flight crew member who has gone above and beyond the call of duty. The secon award is for women who fight social injustice. 

After her death her brother wrote two books - The Neeja I Knew and The Smile of Courage. Her story was also turned into the Bollywood film Neeja in 2016.