Video: 'ABC News — 17 Days of Terror: The Hijack of TWA 847'

(Sunday, June 30, 1985, their release began at 5:45 p.m. Eastern European Summer Time; during TWA Flight 847) — Thirty-nine Americans were freed today by their Lebanese Shiite captors in Beirut, then were driven here in a convoy organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Within hours, the jubilant group was flying to West Germany, en route home after 17 days in captivity.

Their release, under an arrangement worked out with the help of the Syrian government, ended a crisis that began June 14, 1985, when two Shiite gunmen commandeered a Trans World Airlines jetliner over Europe.

The assailants, who demanded the release of more than 700 mainly Shiite detainees held by Israel, beat and killed one American hostage early in the hijacking.

The ordeal finally ended after some of the hijacker’s demands were met and they agreed to release their hostages. Many believed that because of the lawless nature of Lebanon at the time the captors would go without punishment.

The group landed at Frankfurt early Monday, where they were expected to undergo physical examinations, reunite with friends and relatives, and head home.

“You are back, and America did not compromise her principles to get you back,” Vice President George H.W. Bush said in greeting the hostages at Rhein-Main Air Base.

The 39 Americans, waving and shouting happily to reporters, arrived in Damascus in 12 Red Cross cars and a truck that had left from the same schoolyard in southern Beirut where they had assembled the day before in hopes of leaving.