Hijack the most brutal since 19718242;

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 25: Friday's hijack of the Indian Airlines IA flight IC-814 from Kathmandu was the most brutal in a series of 13 sin...

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 25: Friday8217;s hijack of the Indian Airlines IA flight IC-814 from Kathmandu was the most brutal in a series of 13 since 1971 involving Indian civilian aircraft and the first to result in the death of any passenger.

The only other death caused in the series was the killing of the August 20, 1982 hijacker of Boeing 737 from Udaipur to New Delhi at Amritsar airport where it landed after being refused permission to land in Lahore. The Sikh hijacker Manjit Singh, who wanted the plane to go to Lahore, was shot dead in a commando action at the Amritsar airport.

The number 13 bode ill in the current hijack as it was not only the 13th instance but its flight no.814 added up to the proverbial unlucky number.In the first instance on January 30, 1971, the Fokker Friendship aircraft was hijacked to Lahore by two armed men. The plane was blown up two days later on February two after release of all 30 passengers and a crew of four.

It was also the third time that a hijacked plane was diverted to Lahore. On September 29, 1981, Khalistani activists, demanding release of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, hijacked a Boeing 737 to Lahore but were overpowered by Pakistani commandos, ensuring safety of all passengers.

In the two hijacks which came in August 1982, one on August four and the other on August 20, the Sikh hijackers in each case wanted to divert the flight to Lahore but were refused permission by the Pakistani authorities. The aircraft landed in Amritsar in both cases.

On September 18, 1976, Indian Airlines plane bound for Mumbai from Delhi was forcibly taken to Lahore where the hijackers were overpowered in a raid. On December 20, 1978, a Delhi-bound Boeing 737 from Lucknow was hijacked to Varanasi by two youths who were disarmed and taken to custody.

On August 24, 1984, an Indian Airlines flight which took from Chandigarh was hijacked to Dubai after landing in Lahore and Karachi. All the passengers were released. On January 22, 1993, a Patna-Lucknow-Delhi flight was hijacked by a lone man who however surrendered without causing any harm to the passengers. Three more hijacks followed in quick succession in the same year 8211; on March 27, April 10 and April 24. While the March 27 and April 24 hijacks both ended in Amritsar, the April 10 hijack of a Delhi-bound plane from Lucknow ended with passengers overpowering the student-hijackers.