On June 14, 1985, 139 passengers and 8 crew members boarded TWA Flight 847 from Athens, Greece, en route to Rome, Italy.
Among the passengers who passed through the notoriously lax security in Athens were Mohammed Ali Hamadi and Hassan Izz-al-Din.
Twenty minutes into the flight, they took control of the aircraft using two Soviet F-1 grenades and a Browning Hi Power 9mm pistol.
Identifying themselves as “Islamic Jihad,” they forced the plane to land in Beirut, Lebanon, where additional terrorists from Hezbollah boarded the aircraft.
The terrorists demanded the release of 700 Shiite militants in custody in Israel.
The leadership of the pilot — Korean War veteran John Testrake — as well as that of flight service manager Uli Derickson was nothing short of heroic.
Jewish passengers were separated from the others and two U.S. Navy divers were identified.
After refueling, the Boeing 727 continued to Algeria, where 20 hostages were released.
After another refueling, the plane returned to Beirut where additional armed terrorists boarded the plane.
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On the morning on June 15, the plane door was pushed aside and 2nd Class Navy Diver Robert Dean Stethem was moved to the opening.
He had been beaten nearly to death by the 12-15 Hezbollah terrorists holding the plane; they had almost ripped him apart with fists, fingernails and even their teeth.
Hamadi shot him in the back of the head and dropped his body onto the tarmac.
Seven passengers with Jewish-sounding names were removed from the plane and moved to locations in South Beirut.
Flight 847 then took off for Algiers — and later returned to Beirut.
After 17 days of negotiations and concessions on the part of Israel and the U.S., all hostages were released.
To this day, Hezbollah denies any involvement in the hijacking.
Hassan Izz-Al-Din remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List. He is suspected to be in Lebanon.
Mohammed Ali Hamadi was arrested in West Germany in 1987 on explosives and terrorism charges.
He was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Robert Stethem.
He was paroled in 2005.
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Intelligence sources indicate that Hamadi was killed in a CIA drone strike in Pakistan in 2010.
Reports of his death, however, are unconfirmed.
(Follow Jack Carr on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jackcarrusa.)
When the remaining hostages were finally released on June 30, 1985 — after two weeks of intense negotiations between President Ronald Reagan and Lebanese and Israeli officials — they were driven to Syria and then flown to West Germany.
They were then welcomed home by President and Mrs. Reagan.
The Boeing 727 returned to service and remained flying with TWA until Sept. 30, 2000, according to multiple reports.
Robert Stethem, the Navy diver who was flying on TWA Flight 847 when it was hijacked, was only 23 years old at the time of the terror act.
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Stethem had hoped to make a career in the Navy.
He became, however, the only person killed in the hijacking of TWA Flight 847.
