Chronology of Events in Hijacking of Kuwait Airways Flight 422 With AM-Hijack Bjt
Undated (AP) _ Here is a chronology of events in the hijacking of Kuwait Airways Flight 422:
April 5 - The Boeing 747 with 112 people aboard, including three members of the Kuwaiti royal family, is hijacked on a flight to Kuwait from Bangkok and diverted to Mashhad in northeastern Iran. The Arab hijackers demand freedom for 17 pro-Iranian extremists jailed in Kuwait for their convictions in the bombings of the U.S. and French embassies there in 1983. They threaten to blow up the plane if the demand is not met. Kuwait refuses. One passenger with heart condition is released. Kuwait asks Iran not to allow the plane to take off.
April 6 - Kuwait sends a team to Iran to negotiate with the hijackers but vows not to yield to their demands. The hijackers release 24 women and call a doctor on board to treat passengers they describe as ″unwell.″
April 7 - The hijackers release 32 more hostages. The plane is refueled after hijackers shoot at airport security and threaten to force the plane to take off with fuel tanks near empty.
April 8 - The plane leaves Mashhad but is refused permission to land in Beirut and Damascus. After seven hours in the air, the plane lands at Larnaca, Cyprus.
April 9 - The hijackers kill a Kuwaiti security guard on the plane after their demands for fuel are not met. The pilot says captives are being beaten. Another captive is freed after a PLO official and two Cypriot officials go to the plane and talk with the hijackers.
April 10 - Negotiations with PLO officials continue. The hijackers threaten a ″slow and quiet massacre″ and say they’ll force the pilot to take off and crash into the Kuwaiti royal palace if demands are not met. In Lebanon, the pro-Iranian Islamic Jihad terrorist group threatens to kill kidnapped foreign hostages if any attempt is made to storm the plane.
April 11 - The hijackers kill a second captive, identified as a Kuwaiti security officer. A passenger tells airport officials via radio that the hijackers have threatened to shoot all the passengers if the plane is not refueled.
April 12 - Twelve more hostages are freed.
April 13 - Plane flies from Cyprus to Algiers, Algeria.