.NEWDEL DEL121
HIJACK-PM
Vajpayee asks organisers to cancel B'day celebrations
New Delhi, Dec 24 (PTI) Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has called for cancellation of all programmes tomorrow to celebrate his birthday in view of the hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight today.
"In view of the grave situation, the Prime Minister has appealed to all organisers to cancel any planned celebrations for his birthday tomorrow," an official spokesperson told PTI. PTI ARC MS UB YY 12242108
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.NEWDEL DEL122
HIJACK-SUSPEND TWO LAST (Reopens DEL118)
The hijackers have asked for medical assistance, water and refuelling, Gupta said. "We cannot stop these things (medical assistance, water).They are being granted. But I do not know about refuelling,"he said.
Asked about identity of the hijackers, he said, "This has not been established as yet. Most of the conversation with them has been through the pilot."
Contact with Pakistan regarding the incident is being maintained at the moment at the High- Commissioner level, he said. PTI ARC MS UB YY 12242110
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.NEWDEL DEL123
HIJACK-LIST
New Delhi, Dec 24 (PTI) Following is the list of passengers and crew on board the Indian Airlines airbus that was hijacked on a flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi today.
M Tulasi, G Prasadbabu, Mustaq Ahmed, S Dhanashekhar, R P Kanan, S Gupta, A Gupta, S Dhital, R Pathak, Mst M Maheshwari, Mr Maheshwari, Mrs Maheshwari, S Dubey, Mrs S Dubey, K Dubey, H Maheshwari, Neena, S Kumar, A Kumar, S Singh, S K Bansal, S Gupta, L N Gupta, P Bansal, A A Kathuria, R K Sharma, Mrs S Sharma, Mst S Sharma, P Kataria, R Kataria, A Gupta, H Gupta, V V Moreno, F C Rodriguez, V R Moore, S Singotia, Mrs S Singotia, Dr S Bhattacharya, A K Bhatacharya, S Kalra, H Arora, Mrs Arora, Mr Kalra, K Koul, C M Tyagi, G Tyagi, S Agarwal, R Parthasathy, Y Kaur, V Singh, S Raghav, Capt R Raghav, A Agarwal, R Garg, I Singh, K Koul, U Koul, R Kulasekar, V Singh (More) PTI PCH PVR YY 12242112
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.NEWDEL DEL124
HIJACK-LIST TWO A Gupta, A Joshi, K K Sharma, M Tolia, B Bhojwani, M Dawer, C Hisada, N P Chapagain, S Macklian, J L Shrestha, Mrs Shrestha, B Menon, Mrs I Menon, V Grover, A Grover, Mrs Kaur, R Singh, Ravi Kumar, S Goel, D Goel, R Kachroo, R K Ghosh, B.KC, R I Mistri, S Sethi, J Bhatt, R Dogra, R G Verma, S A Sayyed, A P Jain, R Kumar, S Sahani, D Singh, I Taneja, R Ahuja, C P Chhabbra, R K Tayal, S Kumar, A Sethi, S Kapoor, P Kalra, D Kumar, V Sharma, K Sharma, D Johnson, A Jain, J Mayoral, A Lloret, R Vohra, S Vohra plus one infant, B K Tandon. More PTI PCH PVR YY 12242118
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.LAHORE FGN28
LDALL HIJACK
Hijacked IA flight lands in Lahore; four passengers killed
Lahore, Dec 24 (PTI) An Indian Airlines Airbus carrying 187 passengers and crew, hijacked while on a flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi, landed here tonight after the five heavily armed hijackers killed four passengers during a 25-minute refuelling halt at Amritsar airport.
Pakistani troops and police surrounded the wide-bodied A-300 aircraft when it landed at the airport shortly after the hijackers forced the pilot to take off from Amritsar, having permitted him earlier to land for refuelling.
The hijackers demanded food and fuel at the Lahore airport and were insisting on refuelling of the plane to leave for an undisclosed destination, officials said.
The identity of the hijackers, who are armed with AK-47 rifles, pistols and hand grenades, was not known nor did they make any demands.
They spoke in Hindustani and said they wanted to go to their "homeland", without elaborating, officials said.
The four passengers were shot dead while the plane was on the runway at Amritsar's Raja Sansi airport for 25 minutes after landing there at 6.57 PM. more pti corr msa rkc YY 12242128
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.NEWDEL DEL127
HIJACK-LIST THREE
M Masoch, G Macherel, A Gupta, V Gupta, R Katyal, Mrs R Katyal, D K Soni, A Kumar, A Agarwal, G Agarwal, A Swarup, K Meenu, N Mahesh, A Sharma, K Naithani, R Naithani, B Naithani, S Naithani, D Goepert, M Sharma, F Vougla, G Goepert, A Naithani, Mrs A Naithani, N Gangahar, A Gangahar, A Jain, Mrs A Jain, S Jain, Ms A Jain, P Baisla, A Baisla, K Baisla, K Guru, G Tamrakar, H Shrestha, N Mahesh, G Baisla, A A Sharma, S Kar, R P Singh, Mr Khandelwala. More PTI PCH PVR YY 12242131
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.NEWDEL DEL128
HIJACK-LIST FOUR LAST
R Giori, Calabresia, P Ward, R Grover, A Khurana, S Sharma, S Brara, U B Bhat, S A Qazi, S A Qazi, S A Qazi, S A Qazi, P Garg, S Garg, James, I Verma plus one infant, S Verma, Mrs Verma, Sharma, R D Dahali Following is the list of crew: Capt D Sharan, Capt Rajinder, F/E Jaggia, F/P Anil Sharma, A/H Rajani, A/H Sabita, A/H Mukherjee, A/H Mazumdar, A/H Debnath, A/H Menon, F/P Satheesh. PTI PCH PVR YY 12242134
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.LAHORE FGN29
LDALL HIJACK TWO
The circumstances under which the passengers were killed were not clear.
One version said the hijackers got angry when the refuelling was stopped but according to another report they got suspicious when an oil tanker moved towards the plane.
Of the passengers on board the aircraft, 152 are Indians and 24 foreigners, including eight Nepalese, four each Swiss and Spanish, and one each Canadian and Belgian. There are 106 men, 57 women, 11 children and two infants on board the plane.
Of the 11-member crew, eight are air hostesses.
Pakistani authorities, which had earlier refused permission to the aircraft to land at Lahore airport forcing it to fly to Amritsar as it was short on fuel, permitted the plane to land on its second attempt after Indian authorities requested them to let the aircraft land.
The aircraft made a forced landing after circling over the airport several times. The tarmac lights were switched off when it touched down. MORE PTI CORR MSA RKC PAL UB 12242141
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