A record number of people were killed on a single hijacked airliner when an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767-200ER ran out of fuel and ditched just off the Comoros Islands, near Mozambique on 23 November, killing eight crew and 115 passengers.
The three hijackers, whose motives never became clear, did not kill anyone directly, but casualties resulted from impact or drowning after the ditching.
Conditions for ditching were fair, but the 767 (ET-AIZ) hit with about 10¹ left bank, causing the aircraft to yaw left and break up. All but the rear-fuselage section inverted and sank quickly. It is likely that the hijackers were trying to interfere with the controls during the pilots' attempts to ditch, having done so during the flight.
The 767 had taken off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on a flight which would have taken it first to Nairobi, Kenya, then Brazzaville, Congo, and finally to Nigeria. According to passenger survivors, 30min after take-off, the hijackers produced a package, claiming it to contain explosive. They then said that they had escaped from prison and opposed the Ethiopian Government. The pilots said that the hijackers' only demand was to be taken to Australia.
The worst hijack ever was in October 1990, when a Xiamen Airlines Boeing 737-200 crashed on landing at Guangzhou after the hijacker attacked the pilot, and the 737 ran into a parked 707 and occupied 757, killing a total of 128.
Source: Flight International
