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KLM Flight 861

25 Nov 1973 · Dubai

Boeing 747-206B · Aircraft hijacking

From Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) to Tokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)

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Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Occurrence
Event fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
264
Survivors
264
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
Unknown
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Airline

Boeing 747-206B

Flight
KL861
Aircraft type
Boeing 747
Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
PH-BUA
Operator
KLM
Onboard fatalities
0
Route
From Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)To Tokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)

Approximate · Estimated position: Dubai, the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.

From the Wikipedia article

KLM Flight 861, operated by a Boeing 747 registered as PH-BUA and named "The Mississippi", was hijacked on 25 November 1973, in Iraqi airspace whilst on a scheduled Amsterdam-Tokyo flight with 247 passengers on board.

Hijacking

KLM Flight 861, captained by Issac Risseeuw, was a scheduled flight from Amsterdam to Tokyo-Haneda with planned stops at Athens, Beirut, and Delhi. The airplane was en route over Iraq when it was hijacked by three passengers, claiming to be members of the Arab Youth Organization for the Liberation of Palestine. They forced the plane to Damascus, Nicosia, Tripoli, Malta, and finally Dubai where the hijackers surrendered to authorities. All 247 passengers and 17 crew survived the hijacking.

Text from the Wikipedia article “KLM Flight 861” (revision 1339303345, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

Sources

Wikipedia article: KLM Flight 861
Article
KLM Flight 861
Revision
1339303345 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q16980985
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "KLM Flight 861" (page 32292132, revision 1339303345)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata coordinates)
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
airline flight number in the infobox
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.