Faridabad: Captain M K Kachru, the pilot of the Indian Airlines plane hijacked to Pakistan in January 1971, died in Faridabad, near Delhi, today after prolonged illness, his family said.
He was 93, they said.
Captain Kachru was flying an Indian Airlines plane, carrying 26 passengers and a crew of four, from Srinagar to Jammu when two Kashmiri terrorists hijacked it and forced him to fly to Lahore.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, then foreign minister of Pakistan, turned up at the airport and hailed the hijackers, who had demanded the release of a number of prisoners from Indian jails.
The demand was refused by India.
Though the passengers and the crew were transported back to India by land route via Amritsar, the plane was set on fire.
India had hit back by banning overflights of Pakistani aircraft in Indian airspace.
He was 93, they said.
Captain Kachru was flying an Indian Airlines plane, carrying 26 passengers and a crew of four, from Srinagar to Jammu when two Kashmiri terrorists hijacked it and forced him to fly to Lahore.
The demand was refused by India.
Advertisement
India had hit back by banning overflights of Pakistani aircraft in Indian airspace.
Advertisement
COMMENTS
Advertisement
3 Indians Among 229 Aboard Singapore Airlines Flight Hit By 'Sudden Extreme Turbulence' Indian Airlines To Carry Half Of Country's International Traffic By 2028: Report Indian Couple Receives Rs 2 Lakh For ''Mental Agony'' After Their Business Class Seats Didn't Recline World's Largest Isolated Tribe Makes Rare Appearance In New Footage Barack Obama Wants Joe Biden To Pull Out Of US Presidential Race: Report 32 Dead In Bangladesh Unrest, Protesters Set Fire To State TV Headquarters NEET PG 2024: Test Cities Out For Postgraduate Medical Entrance Exam After 53 Years, Mortar Shells From 1971 Indo-Pak War Found In Fish Pond "Humanitarian Crisis Due To Israel-Hamas Conflict Concerning": India At UN Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.