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Hijacked Boeing 767 crashed in Comores as it ran out of fuel

This Boeing 767-260ER belonging to Ethiopian Airlines was en route from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Nairobi, Kenya, on November 23rd 1996. 172 passengers and crew were onboard. The plane was hijacked by three Ethiopians seeking political asylum in Australia, and asking the crew to fly to Australia. The pilot explained they had only taken on the fuel needed for the scheduled flight and thus could not even make a quarter of the journey, but the hijackers did not believe him. The pilot secretly headed for the Comoro Islands, which lie midway between Madagascar and the African mainland.
The plane eventually ran out of fuel. A fight with the hijackers prevented the crew to land on Comores aiport. The pilot tried to ditch the aircraft in shallow waters 500 metres off the coast. The plane left engine and wingtip struck the water first. The left engine then struck a coral reef, slowing that side of the aircraft quickly, causing the Boeing 767 to violently spin left and break apart.
122 of the 172 people on board were killed, along with the hijackers. The other 50 survived with injuries.

Comment

Art
San Antonio (Usa)
What actually happened before the events of 9-11-01 forced a whitewash of this ditching .. upon contact with the surf the left wing separated cleanly from the wingbox sending the wing flying vertically straight up into the air about a wing length (~100 ft) above the water. It broke off cleanly as if it was designed to. It was the most amazing footage I had ever seen. All that is left are photoshop artifacts where the flying left wing used to be. I finally gave up looking for the original copy of the Ethiopian ditching film. Seems all online copies were replaced with edited footage .. and even the official NTSB explanation has been changed to report the left wing, still attached, being taken under the surf. That is complete and utter fantasy. Nothing of the sort occurred. Someone has the original copy and are probably scared to death to put it out there. I don't blame them.
19th August, 2024