19/06/2026
Her name was Neerja Bhanot.
She was born in Chandigarh in 1963. She grew up in Mumbai, modeled for advertisements, and joined Pan Am as a flight attendant in 1985. She was 23 years old.
Once, her mother told her that if a plane ever got hijacked, she should run away and save herself.
Neerja replied, "Mother, I will die, but I will not run away."
On September 5, 1986, she was the senior purser on Pan Am Flight 73, which was traveling from Mumbai to New York via Karachi. There were 380 passengers and 13 crew members on board the aircraft.
During the Karachi stopover around 6:00 AM, four armed terrorists boarded the plane dressed in airport security uniforms.
Neerja recognized them immediately and flashed the hijack code over the intercom. The three pilots escaped the aircraft through an overhead hatch. The plane was grounded. The terrorists could no longer fly it anywhere.
Infuriated, the hijackers put Neerja in charge of communicating with the airline. All other flight attendants were tied up with ropes. She was now alone. Yet, she kept 380 people calm for 17 hours. She served them sandwiches and water.
When the hijackers ordered her to collect all the passports, she realized they wanted to target Americans. She and her crew quietly hid the American passports under the seats and threw the rest down the trash chute. Out of the 44 Americans on board, 42 survived.
After 17 hours, the terrorists opened fire and threw grenades into the cabin.
Neerja immediately opened the emergency exit door. Although she could have escaped first, she stepped aside and began pushing the passengers out to safety.
The terrorists saw her helping three children escape. They caught her by her hair and shot her.
She passed away on the Karachi airport tarmac, just two days before her 24th birthday.
She was posthumously awarded the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest civilian bravery award—becoming the first woman and the youngest person ever to receive it.
Pakistan honored her with the Tamgha-e-Pakistan, and the United States Department of Justice awarded her the Special Courage Award.
She had every opportunity to save herself.
But she chose not to.
