Page "1973 in aviation" Paragraph 35

** A member of the Japanese Red Army and four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijack Japan Air Lines Flight 404, a Boeing 747-246B with 140 other people on board, shortly after it takes off from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands for a flight to Anchorage, Alaska, en route a final destination of Tokyo International Airport, Tokyo, Japan.

One of the PFLP members is killed when her hand grenade explodes during the hijacking, also injuring the airliners chief purser.

The surviving hijackers force the plane to fly to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates ; after a long stay there, they force it to fly to Damascus, Syria, and Benghazi, Libya, where they release the passengers and crew 89 hours after the hijacking began and blow up the airliner.