FBI releases age-progressed photos of Neerja Bhanot's 1986 flight hijackers
The FBI has released age-progressed photos of the four attackers involved in the 1986 hijack of Pan Am Flight 73 that killed 20, including Indian flight attendant Neerja Bhanot. The hijackers have been identified as Wadoud Muhammad Hafiz al-Turki, Muhammad Abdullah Khalil Hussain ar- Rahayyal, Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim and Muhammad Ahmed al-Munawar. FBI used age-progression technology to process their original pictures from 2000.
On September 5, 1986, four terrorists dressed as security-guards hijacked the Mumbai-New York Pan American Flight-73 at Karachi. Twenty people including passengers and crew were killed, more than 100 injured, and there was attempted murder of 379 people on board. Neerja managed to warn the cockpit crew and helped save many lives before the hijackers killed her. She was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra.
Each of the four, currently FBI's most wanted list, are suspected to have been members of the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO). The Department of State Rewards for Justice Program has offered rewards of up to $5mn each for information on the alleged hijackers.
