In the early minutes of the hijacking, they identified an Indian-American citizen, dragged him to the exit, shot him dead and threw his body from the plane. The hijackers were part of the Abu Nidal Organization, a Palestinian terrorist organization backed by Libya they were targeting Americans and American assets. As the most senior cabin crew member, Bhanot took charge of the situation inside the plane. 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. The aircraft was carrying 380 passengers and 13 crew members. She also had a successful modelling career simultaneously during her work at Pan Am.īhanot was the Senior Flight Purser on Pan Am Flight 73 flying from Bombay to the United States via Karachi and Frankfurt, which was hijacked by four armed men on 5 September 1986 at Karachi Airport in Pakistan. Upon selection, she went to Miami, Florida for training as a flight attendant, but returned as a purser. Career īhanot applied for a flight attendant job with Pan Am, when in 1985 it decided to have an all Indian cabin crew for its Frankfurt to India routes. Her mother died on 5 December 2015 at the age of 86. Her father, Harish Bhanot, worked as a journalist with The Hindustan Times for more than 30 years and died on New Year's Day in 2008 in Chandigarh at the age of 86.

She was a huge fan of actor Rajesh Khanna and used to refer to quotes from his films throughout her life. It was in Bombay where she was first spotted for a modelling assignment which began her modelling career. When the family moved to Bombay, she continued her studies at Bombay Scottish School and then graduated from St. She received her early schooling at Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School in Chandigarh. She had two brothers, Akhil and Aneesh Bhanot. She was the daughter of Harish Bhanot, a Bombay-based journalist, and Rama Bhanot. Bhanot was born in Chandigarh, India, and brought up in Bombay (present-day Mumbai) in a Punjabi Hindu Brahmin family.

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