TWA Flight 847
Trans World Airlines Boeing 727–231 · Hijacking
From Cairo International Airport (CAI) to San Diego International Airport (SAN)
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
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 155
- Survivors
- 154
- 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 727–231
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 727
- 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
- N64339
- Operator
- Trans World Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 1
- Route
- From Cairo International Airport (CAI)To San Diego International Airport (SAN)
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
TWA Flight 847 was a regularly scheduled Trans World Airlines flight from Cairo to San Diego with en route stops in Athens, Rome, Boston, and Los Angeles. On the morning of June 14, 1985, Flight 847 was hijacked soon after takeoff from Athens. The Hezbollah hijackers demanded the release of a total of 766 Shia Muslims from Israeli custody and took the plane repeatedly to Beirut and Algiers. As of 2023, Hezbollah continues to deny involvement.
The hijacking and subsequent hostage situation played out over the course of 17 days, during which the aircraft crisscrossed the Mediterranean. Many passengers were tied up and beaten, and those with Jewish-sounding names were separated from the others. United States Navy diver Robert Stethem was murdered, and his body was thrown onto the Beirut airport apron. The ordeal finally ended after some of the hijackers' demands had been met and they agreed to release all remaining hostages. Many believed that due to the lawless nature of Lebanon at the time the captors would go unpunished.
Hijacking events
All times are in Algiers time unless otherwise noted
Flight 847 was operated with a Boeing 727–200, registration N64339 The flight originated in Cairo on the morning of June 14.
Text from the Wikipedia article “TWA Flight 847” (revision 1368229226, 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: TWA Flight 847
- Article
- TWA Flight 847
- Revision
- 1368229226 · 2026-08-07 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q2302456
- 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 "TWA Flight 847" (page 512123, revision 1368229226)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- 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.