Vaanathai Pola 394
The word kidnap means when a person has been taken away by force, but 'hijack' is used when a vehicle is taken over by force or something is stolen from it. Kidnapping happens to people, but hijacking happens to things.
But what about the people in a plane as it is being hijacked, taken over by criminals and terrorists. For isn't their real motive, kidnapping people and using them as hostages and pawns in the negotiations that they conduct with the respective governments.
9/11 is collectively considered the worst hijacking in the history of aviation, not only because of the number of victims it created but also because it was a watershed moment for the US and the whole world.
The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon cost the lives of almost 3,000 people – 265 died aboard all four hijacked planes while more than 2,700 perished in the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.
Despite its magnitude, 9/11 is one of the last in a long list of hijackings, tracing back to the earliest days of aviation. The very first recorded hijacking of a plane took place in the year 1919 when Franz Nopcsa von Felso-Szilvás seized a plane at gunpoint in Budapest to fly to Vienna to escape the soviets who had taken over Hungary.
A plane hijacked while airborne is the scariest experience for passengers and the flight crew because the situation can turn fatal at any given moment and there is no redemption if things turn bad. This is what happened when the two jets crashed into the twin towers and another one into the pentagon and another one just outside Washington.
Aeroplanes fly at great speeds and are meant to fly unhindered and uninhibited and up in the open skies and are not meant to run into buildings or mountains. The latter is a more common occurrence and I hate to admit that.
The News of the hijacking of Australia's Qantas flight A380 had gone viral a few minutes after it had been hijacked over the Indian ocean and after it had gone into complete radio silence but not before issuing one single burst of transmission. " Mayday"
The word " foreign correspondent " means a person employed to report for a newspaper or broadcasting organization from a particular place abroad. In the media, you may have heard the words correspondent and reporter being used in various situations. But have you ever wondered the difference between these two individuals? A correspondent is someone who reports news from a particular region or country, on a particular topic. A reporter is a person who reports news for a newspaper or a broadcasting company. The key difference between a correspondent and a reporter is that while a correspondent voices his opinions in the news item, a reporter does not.
When an interesting event takes place somewhere in the world, a correspondent is sent to that particular place to report what is happening. This is why we see many correspondents reporting live from remote areas as well as foreign lands. The best example of this is war correspondents that are sent to the battlefront to report the news. It is important to highlight that, unlike reporters, correspondents usually state their opinions as they are reporting. This is mainly because the correspondent gets to experience the event firsthand.
News of a hijacking is by itself headline news that would a day easily dominate every tv channel and radio station worth their salt and with the burgeoning of Youtube channels along with other social platforms such as Twitter, Whatsapp and Facebook, the news of the sudden radio silence of Qantas A380 and the scary possibility that it had been hijacked went viral and at the speed of light and reached every corner of the globe in minutes. A feat that even the mighty sun cannot achieve as it is day on one side and night on the other side of the planet
The news reached billions and even pathetic Youtube websites with ameasly1K or 2k views and tv channels that had poor ratings saw their views and viewership numbers shoot off into the stratosphere. This is the power and reach of news.
Now came the crème de la crème and mother of all news when nearly the entire human race learnt about who the passengers were on the hijacked flight. When the news that the hijacked plane had on board Members of the British Monarchy, United Nations dignitaries, United kingdom's MP's and its deputy Prime Minister and several other minor but still important members of the corporate world, the news exploded with the power of a nuclear bomb and every foreign correspondent worth his or her salt rushed to Chennai.
Both the BBC and the CNN were lucky to have their foreign Correspondents on the ground and in Chennai for they were there to report on the International film festival that both France, the United Kingdom and the United States were going to conduct under the Auspices of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had also agreed to their requests for a 10-minute interview after he had inaugurated the film festival.
So, in the front row and just a few feet away from India's defence Minister Rajnath Singh sat Yogita Limaye and Soutik Biswas, BBC's foreign Correspondents and right next to them sat Mallika Kapur, CNN'S correspondent. But the rest of the seats in the front rows were filled with India's leading reporters and journalists.
The whole press meet was being held in a large conference room that had been cordoned off from the rest of the Airport and armed commandos stood guard with only their eyes visible as the rest of the body was completely covered in black. All of them wore bulletproof Kevlar vests and their posturing clearly conveyed that they would shoot first and ask questions later.
The security measures extended out of the airport and to every nook and corner of India. Every station, major bus stop and airports were thrown under a blanket of security cover and to the public this conveyed a serious message to all of them that India might be under an attack.
All members of the press were scrutinized thoroughly and only then allowed to enter into the press conference room and each and every member were politely requested to raise their hand and not their voices.
Everyone gathered there watched quietly as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh entered the conference room and made his way towards the table that had just three chairs placed near it and folded his hands and said, ' Namaste. Good evening, everyone ' and it was clear to everyone there that the man was under major stress and strain.
He stood flanked on either side by Chennai's Airport director Sharad Kumar on his right and by Brigadier Sooryanarayanan on his left.
With a warm smile he announced, ' Firstly, I want to inform all of you that the hijacking situation is over and that all the passengers are safe and without any injury.'
A huge roar erupted in the conference room and everyone cheered and clapped loudly and there was not a damn thing the security could do about it and so, they all stood patiently along with the minister and waited for the noise to die down.
After it had died down and calm had been restored, Minister Rajnath Singh continued, ' For reasons that concern our National security I am sorry but I cannot divulge any details about the situation as of now as this is operation is still underway.'
Two hands went up immediately and Minister Rajnath Singh looked at both of them and chose one.
The raised hands belonged to two of India's most popular and well-respected TV anchors, Arnab Goswami from Republic tv and the other was Rajdeep Sardesai from India Today and it was an easy choice for the defence minister to make and he whispered softly, ' Arnab ji' and it was clear to everyone which channel the ruling party clearly favoured.
Arnab Goswami beamed and with his very first question set the tone that the minister had secretly hoped would happen and it happened.
' Minister ji, sir, On behalf of all our Indian Citizens we thank you for successfully ending this hijacking situation. This could have happened only under your supervision and that of Prime Minister Modiji.'
' Arnab Ji, a small correction. This whole operation was conducted under the guidance of Shri Modji and we just followed his orders. Bas, sirf follow kiya and with the help of our Elite Commando team that was headed by Brigadier Sooryanarayanan and with the expert assistance of our R&AW agents who were ably assisted by Chennai's Airport director and the airport security members.'
He suddenly paused in mid-speech and raised his hand and said, ' I am sorry but I have to take this call' and answered it and everyone present there could see that the Minister had just received some shocking news and began to worry and wonder if the Hijacking situation had been really solved after all.'
They heard him clearly say, ' I am sorry for your loss and it is a loss for all of us. Yes, please come for I was just about to go into the only details that we can reveal to the public.'
Minister Rajnath Singh placed his phone on the table and slowly turned to Brigadier Sooryanarayanan and whispered something that clearly sent the veteran army commando into a state of shock and his eyes could not hide the grief no matter how hard he tried to keep them stern and blazing.
Then everyone present there fell silent and looked to their right as a door opened and in that pin drop silence they heard the door being closed and watched as a tall, slim man walked towards the Minister and they all saw the front of his shirt was covered with blood that had only recently dried and maybe just a few minutes ago and a hum began to pick up in the room as everyone began to mumble and whisper their thoughts and fears.
Just when the hum threatened to erupt into a crescendo, Minister Rajnath Singh spoke in his characteristic baritone voice, ' Shant ho jo, calm down please' and slowly the conference room fell silent.
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