Achille Lauro hijackers surrender in exchange for safe conduct 40 years ago this hour (Oct 9 1985)


Video: 'Achille Lauro story'

(Wednesday, October 9, 1985, 5:00 p.m. Eastern European Summer Time) — The hijackers of the Achille Lauro cruise liner surrendered today in exchange for safe conduct (they were flown towards Tunisia aboard an Egyptian commercial airliner, but intercepted and forced to land in Sicily), two days after seizing the vessel in the Mediterranean and one day after killing passenger Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly, wheelchair-bound tourist from New York.