Pan Am hijack survivor recalls the fatal moment Neerja was shot

Dr Kishore Murthy recalls incident along with his wife who has been working with Neerja's family to document her life. PHOTO: THE QUINT

A survivor of the 1986 Pan Am Flight 73 hijack recalled witnessing the fatal moment Neerja Bhanot, a flight attendant from Mumbai, was shot in the head while saving passengers.

With the renewed interest in her life thanks to an upcoming biopic starring Sonam Kapoor, new bits of information about Neerja's life and her last moments are coming to light.

"I saw her getting shot. She was shot in the head, point blank. Sitting in the sixth row from the front, I saw her during her last moments," Dr Kishore Murthy said, according to the Times of India.

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The tragic tale of Neerja is known on both sides of the border. She was the senior flight purser on the ill-fated Pan Am Flight 73 flying from Mumbai to USA, which was hijacked by four armed men on September 5, 1986 when it was stopped at Karachi airport in Pakistan.

Having displayed true courage and bravery in the face of crisis, she won the Ashok Chakra, making her the youngest recipient of India's highest peacetime military award for bravery. She was also awarded the Tamgha-e-Insaaniyat by the Pakistani government.

With Neerja's biopic releasing this week, Dr Murthy then 31, and his wife Dr Veena Bharati who has been working with Neerja's family to put her life into a film, spoke about the incident.

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"Neerja was absolutely calm and efficient through the horrific episode. She was the first one to alert the captain, the co-pilot and first officers about a possible hijack and it was on her instruction they made their way out from the cockpit, ensuring that the plane could not take off," the eyewitness said.

"She was a true global citizen and did not discriminate between Indians and Americans. I remember she and another flight attendant helped us out of the exit door when one of the terrorists was targeting us. There was constant firing of rounds," Dr Murthy, now 60 recalled.