Summary Attempted hijacking Fatalities 7 Number of deaths 7 | Survivors 87 Date 8 December 1972 Survivor 87 | |
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Flight origin Haile Selassie I International Airport Similar 1972 Puerto Rico DC, Delta Air Lines Flight 9570, Mohawk Airlines Flight 405, Prinair Flight 191, Delta Air Lines Flight 841 | ||
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 708 was a Boeing 720-060B, due to operate an international scheduled Addis Ababa–Asmara–Athens–Rome–Paris passenger service, that experienced a hijacking attempt on 8 December 1972.
Summary
Minutes after departing from Haile Selassie I International Airport bound for Paris, when the aircraft was flying at some 29,000 feet (8,800 m), seven members of the Eritrean Liberation Front stood up and tried to gain control of the plane. A hand grenade that was armed by one of the hijackers was rolled down the aisle by a passenger. The grenade exploded in the rear part of the fuselage, some 6 inches (150 mm) off the plane's centreline, blowing a hole in the cabin floor and damaging or severing several controls of the aircraft, including those of throttle of two engines, of the rudder, and of the horizontal stabiliser. Despite this, the crew turned back the airplane to the airport of origin and managed to land it safely; it sustained minor damages that were repaired later.
Security guards —there were six of them aboard— opened fire at the terrorists, killing six of the hijackers on board, while the seventh one died in a hospital.