the Pan American jet, throwing one phosphorus incendiary and other hand grenades through the open front and rear doors of the aircraft. The explosions knocked crew and passengers to the ground, and the cabin filled with thick, acrid smoke from the resulting fires. Stewardesses were able to open the emergency exit over the wing on one side of the plane; the other exit was obstructed by gunmen. The crew attempted to evacuate as many passengers as possible through the available exit, but twenty-nine passengers and purser Diana Perez died on the plane, including all eleven passengers in first class. Four Moroccan officials heading to Iran for a visit, and Bonnie Erbeck, wife of the plane's captain, were among the dead. Captain Erbeck survived the attack. Also killed were fourteen Aramco employees and employee family members. The aircraft itself was destroyed. Lufthansa hijacking Having assaulted the Pan Am aircraft, the five gunmen took hostage several Italians and Lufthansa ground crew members into Lufthansa Flight 303 Boeing 737 (registration waiting to depart for Munich. An Italian border police officer, 20-year-old Antonio Zara, was shot dead on the ground when he first arrived at the scene of the attack, after the general alarm had been sounded by the airport's control tower. The hijackers then forced the crew already on board to move the plane towards the runway in order to take off. For the first part of the plane's taxiing, the aircraft was chased by several Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza vehicles, who abandoned the chase after the hijackers threatened to kill all the hostages on board. At 13:32 hours, just over half an hour from the start of the action, the plane took off for Athens, Greece, where it arrived at 16:50 hours, local Athens time. The attack turned out to be so lightning-fast that it did not allow an adequate response from the airport's police forces. In fact, only 117 officers were on duty at the airport during that period: 9 carabinieri, 46 customs officers and 62 State Police officers, of which only 8 were employed in the anti-sabotage service; a negligible number for an intercontinental airport like Fiumicino. Everything was aggravated by the fact that the airport structure was absolutely not suitable for the prevention of terrorist attacks, as it was conceived at a time when such events were not foreseeable. Athens stopover Upon landing in Athens, the terrorists demanded