On September 5 , 1986 a Pan Am 747 named the '' Clipper Empress of the Seas '' ( N656PA ) , operating as Pan Am Flight 73 , was taken over by hijackers while on a scheduled stop in Karachi . The flight never departed Karachi , but 20 people were killed when the aircraft was stormed on the ground . The chief purser of the flight , Neerja Bhanot ( an Indian National ) , perished , while saving many lives on the flight , and was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra Award by the Indian Government , as well as civil accolades by the U.S. Government and the Pakistan Government for her selfless act
Pan Am Flight 73
Pan Am Flight 73
Pan American World Airways