Kids ‘forced’ passengers’ release
Tribune News Service

JALANDHAR, Dec 27 — Even as there are still 10 to 11 teenagers aboard the Indian Airlines aircraft hijackers were forced to release some of the children as they felt that wailing kids were a hindrance for them.

Stating this while talking to newsmen at her house in Dasuya in Hoshiarpur district, Neena Singh, the wife of Satnam Singh, who was injured and later released by hijackers alongwith 24 other passengers at Dubai, said the hijackers were not in a mood to release anybody. Neena had left Dasuya with her husband and his friend, Satish Kumar, hailing from Ayiyapur village near Tanda in Hoshiarpur district.

While Satnam is reported to be undergoing treatment for his injuries at New Delhi, Satish and his wife Anita, who had married on December 4 and like Rupin Katyal were on a honeymoon trip, are still on the plane, said Neena and her daughter, Simranjit, who was also freed by hijackers.

“Actually, they did not intend to release anybody, but were forced to do so as small children kept crying badly,” said Neena, who said all five hijackers were well dressed.

Narrating the nightmarish experience, Neena said the drama unfolded just half an hour after the taking off of the plane from the Tribhuvan Airport when five ‘passengers’ armed with a pistol and knives got up and ordered the others to bow their heads. “We were so awestruck that we did’t know what happened thereafter except that they took my husband and Rupin and some other passengers to the VIP cabin. It was there that they bashed up all of them and stabbed Rupin,” said Neena, adding that the hijackers offered food to the passengers.