[the beginning song is a messed up version of the song silent night]
Christmas eve, 1999. for the passengers on this Indian airlines flight the short one and a quarter hour journey to new Delhi is about to turn into days of terror. Not all will reach their destination alive, but the events which are about to unfold go beyond these individuals. when matters here reach their ultimate conclusion there will be deadly consequences across the world, And another chapter would be written in the history of terror.
Day 1
December 24, 1999
Kathmandu, Nepal
at the tribhoven international airport in Kathmandu, Nepal Indian airlines flight IC814 is being readied for departure. It's a short one hour twenty minute flight to new Delhi, India.
In the cockpit, captain Sharan, co-pilot Singh, [other sources say the co-pilot is Rajinder Kumar Goud...but it doesn't sound like that here] and flight engineer Jagia are carrying out their pre-flight checks. Many of the 178 passengers on board are returning from short holidays in Nepal. The mood is light; it's Christmas Eve, and the new millenium is only a week away. When IC 814 departs Kathmandu, soon after 4 PM, there is little indication that this flight will be anything other than routine.
In a short while, it crosses into Indian airspace. In the cabin, flight attendants commence the drink service. On a flight as short as this, they need to be efficient and quick.
"The service on the government of Dehli was proceeding smoothly, I decided to offer some free coffee(?) to the captains."
Chief Stewart Anil Sharma enters the cockpit to serve the pilots tea, by the time he steps out the lives on everyone on board flight IC 814 would have changed forever.
"The moment I turned my face toward the galley, I saw somebody wearing a mask, a bespectacled, short-stature fellow"
[Yes, Can I help you?]
"My first reaction was to, er, inform the captains. I moved my hand towards the intercom."
"When he was going back, immediately I could see one person entering the cockpit.
For a second I was just scared, I couldn't send the suggestion that we had been high-jacked, he said, er, there should not be any movement. Fly the plane towards westward."
But he isn't the only one, in fact, there are four other heavily armed high-jackers and they've taken over the aircraft with ruthless efficiency.
(Overdub) "I could hear voices saying 'Throw the food down- throw it down quick- under your seats' they were screaming loudly, so we started throwing the food down"
Then, we were told to change seats. Children went away from me because they were sitting at the back now. So you know, we kind of lost contact so I said, "Let's see what they do." It was not possible for me to react in any way because alone I could not have done anything.
(Over airplane intercom)
'Ladies & gentlemen. This is your captain,(inaudible). Our plane has been hijacked. Please be patient and listen to the hijackers. Thank you."
The biggest worry was my daughter. What's happening with my daughter, because she was not sitting with me, she was faraway. Then I removed my blindfold and I stood up like this, with my hands up.
and within two seconds, this guy was on me with his revolver pointing at me. He said "You sit down! Otherwise I'll kill you, I'll shoot you!". That was the time he found my voice a little...anger you know that terror was there. That worry and everything. And I think he realised that this man means business you know. Then he said "Sit quickly and sit down"
"I turned around, looked at them, they were both there, sitting. I saw them, and I sat down."
(speaker is forced to sit down, with scared kids looking on)
(plane is flying)
(hijacker says something in what sounds like another language)
(voiceover) In the cockpit, Captain Sharan is finding it harder to convince the hijackers that there isn't enough fuel to fly to Lahore, Pakistan.
[Devi Sharan] He asked what the fuel: "How much fuel do you have?" I said, "We have fuel up to Delhi." "If you cannot land in Delhi, where will you go? What is your alternate?" So he knew that our alternate is Bombay or Ahmedabad, so I said, "Ahmedabad." Then he said, "If you can go to Ahmedabad or Bombay, why can't you go to Lahore? Lahore is nearer than Bombay from Delhi."
As night falls across the Indian subcontinent, IC 814 is still flying west, its destination unknown. Onboard are 189 passengers and crew, held hostage by a group of dangerous armed men. In the cockpit, captain Sharan is playing a dangerous game of his own. Unseen by the hijackers, he's triggered an emergency transponder, letting Indian air traffic controllers know IC 814 has been hijacked.
Onboard IC 814, the captain and the hijackers are locked in a battle of wits. The hijackers want the plane to be flown to Lahore, Pakistan. The captain, though, wants to avoid going to Pakistan at any cost. It's been just six months since India and Pakistan fought a bloody war in Kargil, Kashmir, leaving hundreds dead on both sides. The scars haven't as yet healed.
[Devi Sharan] I didn't ever wanted to go to Lahore, because I never wanted to cross my territory. I wanted to land wherever I can land in India only so that security people can do something.
Making his case stronger is the Lahore ATC, which refuses to accept the plane. In fact, Lahore shuts down its airspace completely, even to its own planes.
Meanwhile, in the passenger cabin, a sinister exercise is underway. Eight male passengers are separated from the others and moved to the executive cabin. Amongst them is 27 year old Rupin Katyal, who's returning from his honeymoon with his bride Rachna.
