Achille Lauro Hijacked: Klinghoffer Killed at Sea
Four Palestine Liberation Front gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro off the coast of Egypt on October 7, 1985, taking 400 passengers and crew hostage. When negotiations stalled, the hijackers murdered Leon Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old wheelchair-bound American tourist, and ordered crew members to throw his body and wheelchair overboard. After the terrorists surrendered to Egyptian authorities, who tried to fly them out of the country, U.S. Navy F-14 fighters intercepted the Egyptian Boeing 737 and forced it to land at a NATO base in Sicily. The incident caused a diplomatic crisis between the U.S., Italy, and Egypt. Abu Abbas, the PLF leader who planned the hijacking, escaped Italian custody and was eventually captured by American forces in Baghdad in 2003.
October 7, 1985
41 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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