Neerja Bhanot is the hero of Pan Am Flight 73, who sacrificed herself to save hundreds of people. She was an Indian purser on Pan Am Flight 73 which had been hijacked by four terrorists from the Abu Nidal organization during a stopover at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan. She is still the youngest recipient of India's highest peacetime gallantry award for bravery "The Ashoka Chakra".
She was 22 years old at the time of Hijacked and she saved the life of pilot and many people form treacherous 17 hours ordeal with her thinking, understanding and bravery.
Neerja Bhanot's Earlylife and Background
On 7th September 1963, Neerja Bhanot was born in Chandigarh, India, in a Punjabi Hindu Brahmin family. Her father Harish Bhanot was a Bombay based journalist and her mother Rama Bhanot was a house wife. She had two siblings Aneesh and Akhil Bhanot.
She did his early studies from Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School in Chandigarh. when her family shifted to Mumbai, she did his further studies from Bombay Scottish School. She did her graduation from ST. Xavier College.
Neerja Bhanot started her career as a model in Bombay. On March 1985, she married to Naresh Mishra a man from UAE. She suffered domestic abuse in her short-lived marriage and after two moths she divorced him.
In 1985, Neerja Bhanot applied at Pan American World airlines as a flight attendant. After selection, she went to Miami, Florida for training as a flight attendant, but returned as a purser.
Pan Am Flight 73, Hijacking
On 5 September 1986 at Karachi Airport in Pakistan, Pan Am Flight 73 flying from Bombay to the United States via Karachi and Frankfurt, was hijacked by four armed men of Abu Nidal Organization. 380 passengers and 13 crew members were there in the flight. Neerja Bhanot was the Senior Flight Purser on that flight. That was Palestinian terrorist organization backed by Libya; they were targeting Americans and American assets.
Neerja Bhanot was able to alert the cockpit crew as soon as the hijackers boarded the plane, and as the plane was on the apron, the three-member cockpit crew of pilot, co-pilot and the flight engineer fled from the aircraft through an overhead hatch in the cockpit. The terrorists wanted to fly to Cyprus with the goal of freeing Palestinian prisoners in Cyprus.
In the early minutes of the hijacking, terrorists identified an Indian-American citizen, dragged him to the exit, shot him dead and threw his body from the plane. The terrorists told Neerja Bhanot to collect the passports of the passengers so that they could identify the Americans. She and the other attendants hid the passports of the remaining 43 Americans on board, some under a seat and the rest down a garbage chute so that the hijackers could not Americans.
The hijackers opened fire and set off explosives after 17 hours. Neerja Bhanot opened one of the airplane doors and helped the passengers to escape. The terrorists were firing constantly fearing a commando attack. "She was guiding the passengers to the emergency exit", according to a surviving passenger. They saw Neerja helping three unaccompanied children to get out. Then they caught Neerja Bhanot by her hair and shot her. She was "the heroine of the hijacking".
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| Neerja Bhanot's last rites |
Awards and Honours
- The Government of India awarded Neerja Bhanot the "Ashoka Chakra Award" for her bravery
- Indian Postal Service released a stamp in 2004 to pay homage.
- In 2005, she was awarded the "Justice for Crimes Award" in Washington, D.C.
- Neerja Bhanot and the other Pan Am Flight 73 flight attendants and Pan Am's flight director for Pakistan were awarded the Special Courage award by the United States Department of Justice in 2006.
- On 18 February 2010 in New Delhi, The Civil Aviation Ministry of India conferred an honor on Neerja Bhanot on the occasion of the launch of the celebrations of the centenary of Indian aviation.
- The Bharat Gaurav Award was conferred on 2July 2016, at a ceremony held at the House of Commons, UK Parliament in London, England.
- Panjab University inaugurated the Neerja Bhanot Hostel in the university campus in Chandigarh on 30 May 2018.
- After her death, her family set up the Neerja Bhanot Trust. The trust presents two awards every year, one for a flight crew member, worldwide, who acts beyond the call of duty and another, the Neerja Bhanot Award, to an Indian woman who bravely faced the social injustice situation and helped other women in similar social distress.
- "Neerja", a biopic thriller drama film was released in 2016.
- "The Neerja I knew" – a coffee table book and "The smile of courage" written by his brother as a tribute to Neerja Bhanot.
