View source for Japan Air Lines Flight 404

{{short description|1973 aircraft hijacking}}
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| name            = Japan Air Lines Flight 404
| image           = Japan Airlines Boeing 747-200B Manteufel.jpg
| caption         = A Japan Air Lines Boeing 747-200, similar to the one involved
| date            = {{start-date|July 20, 1973|20 July 1973}}
| summary         = [[Aircraft hijacking|Hijacking]]
| occurrence_type = Hijacking
| site            = [[Dubai International Airport]], [[Dubai]], United Arab Emirates
| aircraft_type   = [[Boeing 747|Boeing 747-246B]]
| operator        = [[Japan Airlines|Japan Air Lines]]
| tail_number     = JA8109
| origin          = [[Amsterdam Airport Schiphol|Schiphol International Airport]], [[Amsterdam]], Netherlands
| stopover0       = [[Orly International Airport]], [[Paris]], France
| stopover1       = [[Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport]], [[Anchorage]], [[Alaska]], United States
| destination     = [[Haneda Airport|Tokyo International Airport]], [[Tokyo]], Japan
| occupants       = 145
| passengers      = 123 (including 5 hijackers)
| crew            = 22
| fatalities      = 1 (hijacker)
| survivors       = 144 (all passengers and crew, including 4 of 5 hijackers)
}}
'''Japan Air Lines Flight 404''' was a [[airline|passenger flight]] which was [[aircraft hijacking|hijacked]] by the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] and [[Japanese Red Army]] on 20 July 1973.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chronology of aviation terrorism: 1968-2004|url=http://www.skyjack.co.il/chronology/|website=Skyjack, Aviation Terrorism Research|access-date=20 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160114172735/http://www.skyjack.co.il/chronology/|archive-date=14 January 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The flight departed [[Schiphol|Amsterdam-Schiphol International Airport]], Netherlands, on 20 July 1973, en route to [[Haneda Airport|Tokyo International Airport]] (Haneda), Japan, via [[Anchorage International Airport]], [[Alaska]], US. The aircraft was a [[Boeing 747|Boeing 747-246B]], with 123 passengers and 22 crew members on board. The passenger complement included five terrorists, led by Osamu Maruoka, a member of the [[Japanese Red Army]], and the other four were members of the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]].<ref>{{cite web|title=In the Spotlight: Japanese Red Army |work=Center for Defense Information |url=http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=1771&from_page=../index.cfm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061124224746/http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?documentid=1771&programID=39&from_page=..%2Ffriendlyversion%2Fprintversion.cfm&CFID=5968562&CFTOKEN=24431082 |archive-date=2006-11-24 |access-date=2017-01-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Just after takeoff from Schiphol Airport, the flight was hijacked. One of the hijackers accidentally detonated a grenade she was carrying, killing herself and severely injuring the chief purser. The lead hijacker almost immediately announced himself to [[air traffic control]] as El Kassar, hijacking the aircraft in the name of the Palestinian Liberation movement.<ref>{{cite news | title=The Skyjackers Strike Again | work=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,907619,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081214071231/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,907619,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=December 14, 2008 | date=July 30, 1973 | access-date=May 5, 2010}}</ref> After several Middle Eastern governments refused to permit Flight 404 to land, the plane eventually touched down in [[Dubai]], in the United Arab Emirates. After several days on the ground, the terrorists demanded the release of [[Kozo Okamoto]], survivor of the [[Lod Airport Massacre|JRA's attack]] on [[Tel Aviv]]'s [[Ben Gurion International Airport|Lod Airport]].<ref>{{cite news | title=The Skyjackers Strike Again, pg. 2 | work=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,907619-2,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930200520/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,907619-2,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 30, 2007 | date=July 30, 1973 | access-date=May 5, 2010}}</ref>

After the Israeli government refused to release Okamoto, the hijackers flew the aircraft first to [[Damascus]], Syria, and then to [[Benghazi]], in Libya.<ref name=":0">{{ASN accident | id = 19730723-0 | type = Hijacking}}</ref> On 23 July, 89 hours after the hijacking began, the passengers and crew were released; the hijackers then blew up the aircraft, making the incident the second hull loss of a Boeing 747, and the first hull loss of a 747-200.<ref name=":0" /> The [[Pan Am Flight 93|first hull-loss]] was also the result of hijackers.

Maruoka escaped, and in 1977, led the hijacking of [[Japan Air Lines Flight 472 (1977)|Japan Air Lines Flight 472]]. He remained a fugitive until 1987 when he was arrested in Tokyo after entering Japan on a forged passport. Given a life sentence, he died in prison on 29 May 2011.<ref>"[http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2011/05/30/national/ex-red-army-member-maruoka-dies/ Ex-Red Army member Maruoka dies]", ''[[Japan Times]]'', 30 May 2011.</ref>

==References==
{{Portal|Japan|United Arab Emirates|Libya|Aviation|1970s}}
{{Reflist}}
{{PFLP}}
{{New Left in Japan}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1973}}
{{JAL Group}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in the United Arab Emirates}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in Libya}}
[[Category:Japan Airlines accidents and incidents|404]]
[[Category:Aircraft hijackings]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Asia in 1973]]
[[Category:1973 in Japan]]
[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 747]]
[[Category:July 1973 in Asia]]
[[Category:Japanese Red Army]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in the United Arab Emirates]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Libya]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Syria]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in the United Arab Emirates]]
[[Category:Attacks on aircraft by Palestinian militant groups]]
[[Category:Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacks]]
[[Category:Hijackings in 1973]]