Bhanot was the Senior Flight Purser on Pan Am Flight 73 flying from Mumbai to the United States , which was hijacked by four armed men on 5 September 1986 at Karachi airport in Pakistan . The aircraft was carrying 380 passengers and 13 crew members . The terrorists wanted to fly to Cyprus with the goal of freeing Palestinian prisoners in Cyprus . Bhanot was able to alert the cockpit crew as soon as the hijackers boarded the plane , and as the plane was on the tarmac , the three-member cockpit crew of pilot , co-pilot and the flight engineer left the aircraft through an overhead hatch in the cockpit . As the senior-most cabin crew member , Bhanot took charge of the situation inside the plane
Pan Am Flight 73
Pan Am Flight 73
Neerja Bhanot