Incidents and Accidents
- On 23 July 1968, three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked El Al Flight 426, a Boeing 707 with 48 other people on board and diverted it to the airport. They eventually released all 48 hostages unharmed.
- On 20 January 1981 the 52 United States embassy hostages arrived at the airport after they departed Tehran, Iran.
- On 26 August 1992, a bomb at the airport killed nine people and injured 128. Several people were arrested in connection with the bombing, including Hossein Abderrahim, a member of the Islamic FIS political party. He was executed in 1993. In 2002, Abdelghani Ait Haddad, sentenced to death in his absence, took refuge in the United Kingdom after residing in France for nine years.
- On 24 December 1994 Air France Flight 8969, an Airbus A300 bound for Paris, was seized by four Islamic terrorists before take off; three passengers were killed before departure. In Marseille, France, a special operations team of the French Gendarmerie stormed the aircraft and killed all four hijackers; 25 passengers were injured.
Read more about this topic: Houari Boumediene Airport
Famous quotes containing the words incidents and/or accidents:
“An element of exaggeration clings to the popular judgment: great vices are made greater, great virtues greater also; interesting incidents are made more interesting, softer legends more soft.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“I can forgive even that wrong of wrongs,
Those undreamt accidents that have made me
Seeing that Fame has perished this long while,
Being but a part of ancient ceremony
Notorious, till all my priceless things
Are but a post the passing dogs defile.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)