Tirana Hijack: Passenger Perspective
8.30pm 9.30pm
Sandwiches and canned drinks never
tasted so good. Even so, none of us
Suddenly the lights in the aircraft The police came on board and told
really had the appetite to eat much.
went out, leaving us, momentarily, in everyone to remain seated.
There was a lot of activity going on. The
total darkness. The emergency lights PA: This is your captain speaking.
Italian police were going around
along the aisle came on. I looked Please take your luggage and exit the
questioning people. We were brought to a
around for some form of help; as we plane one by one.
small room where we had our baggage
didn’t speak Albanian or Turkish we We exited the plane orderly, taking
opened and searched again. We were
didn’t understand all the mutterings with us our hand luggage. As I looked
questioned about where we were headed
that were going on amongst the out of the cabin door, I saw there were
and what we had been doing in Albania.
other passengers. a lot of police cars and fire trucks. We
They checked our passports and flight
I saw the aircrew give us a hand went through security checks right
details and informed us that they would
signal to duck and take cover. All the there on the tarmac; our bags were all
have to hold onto them for a while.
passengers on board scrambled to opened and body searches were done
squeeze themselves into the before we were allowed to board a bus
12.30am
economy class space between the to take us to the terminal.
seats. Jamie, Angie and I quickly
It all seemed surreal. The police were
ducked and tried to stay out of sight, 10.40pm
circling us, people were trying to get some
away from the windows! WHAT THE
sleep and the police were assisting those
HELL WAS GOING ON! Food and drinks provided and we
who needed to call their respective
We crouched together in that tiny scoffed it like we hadn’t eaten in days.
embassies. trianglert
space, looking at each other in fear.
That’s when I decide to call my Mom.
“Hello Mommy. I don’t know what’s
going on, but our flight was diverted
and now we are in darkness, and we
have to hide! I’ll update you more
later. OK?”
Jamie and Angie also used my
mobile phone to call home. Angie
was still crying; Jamie and I had to
feign calmness even though we were
also panicking inside.
8.50pm
The lights came back on and the guy
who claimed to have a health problem
told us that we’d been hijacked! The
passengers had been conversing in
Albanian on their mobile phones and
we hadn’t understood a word. Their
worried families and relatives had
called them after watching the news of
the hijack on CNN! The whole world,
except us, knew we’d been hijacked! I
called my Mom again; she’d also found
out from my sister in the USA that we
were being held hostage!
9.00pm
The Albanian guy, who recognised me
as Miss Singapore, then said, “Miss
Singapore. Don’t worry. We are all safe
now. It’s over!” We had not seen much
of a commotion or heard arguments or
a struggle. Had the hijacker been
apprehended? Had he surrendered?
Was it really over? Why did everyone
still look worried?
Aviationsecurityinternational April 2007 15
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