The hijacker, Palestinian Hazem Salah Abdallah, a defector of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), falsely claimed he had explosives on board.

The Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft was a wet lease flight operated by Balkan Bulgarian Airlines for Hemus Air; it had 150 passengers and 8 crew members.

[2] The hijacker walked calmly to the toilet where he assembled a facsimile bomb consisting of a cylindrical chocolate box, silver foil, black tape, a switch and small pieces of wire.

[4] The aircraft landed at 14:32 at Varna Airport and after the hijacker threatened to detonate his bomb he exchanged the passengers for fuel.

He had discovered that Lebanese could acquire a visa for Bulgaria, but had not wanted to settle there because of the crime and mafia in the country.

Specifically they wanted Norway to introduce the same policy as Sweden, where the hijackers were sent back to land of origin with the first possible flight.

Responsible for security, Kjell Erik Heibek, described the possibility of the hijacker receiving asylum as "insane".

[14] Because of Norway's accumulation of experience with hijackings, a pan-Nordic exercise was carried out at Sandefjord Airport, Torp in September 1997.

[15] Abdallah was brought to observation at Dikemark Hospital, without the court-appointed psychiatrists finding that he was insane at the time of the hijacking.

The maximum penalty for hijacking in Norway was 21 years, but the defense attorney stated that his client was insane and argued that he be acquitted.

[17] The Ministry of Justice decided on 28 April 1999 to return him to Lebanon, but this was not possible on 12 July, when he was released from prison.

At the terminal at Vienna International Airport he attempted to flee, but was quickly detained by Norwegian and Austrian police.