
08/07/2025
Early on September 5, 1986, Pan Am Flight 73 sat on the tarmac in Karachi when four armed hijackers stormed aboard, and in the panic twenty-two-year-old lead flight attendant Neerja Bhanot stayed calm, slipping into the c**kpit to quietly punch in the hijack code so the pilots could escape through the overhead hatch before the plane took off; over the next seventeen hours she moved among terrified passengers, gathering American passports and hiding them under seats, in chutes, and even flushing a few down the lavatory to keep her fellow travelers safe, and when violence erupted she opened an emergency exit, guided people to freedom, and used her own body to shield three children from gunfire—her selfless bravery cost her life but saved more than 350 people, and at just twenty-two she left behind a legacy of fearless compassion that still inspires us today.
Credit to the rightful author.