TWA Flight 847 hijacked on flight from Athens 30 years ago this hour (June 14 1985)


Video: '1985 TWA Flight 847 Hijacking And 1986 TWA Flight 840 Bombing'

(Friday, June 14, 1985, shortly after 10:10 a.m. EEST) — Trans World Airlines Flight 847 was hijacked today by members of Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad shortly after take off from Athens with 104 Americans and 49 other people aboard.

The pilots were forced to fly to Beirut, to Algiers and then back to Beirut, where one passenger, U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem, was shot to death and his body was thrown onto the tarmac.

The hijackers were seeking the release of 700 Shi’ite Muslims from Israeli custody.