On September 5, 1986, the Boeing 747-121 serving the flight was hijacked while on the ground at Karachi by four armed Palestinian terrorists of the Abu Nidal Organization.

[2] A grand jury later concluded that the militants were planning to use the hijacked airliner to pick up Palestinian prisoners in both Cyprus and Israel.

[3] More than twenty passengers were killed during the hijacking, including nationals from India, the United States, Pakistan, and Mexico.

The first busload of fresh passengers from Karachi had barely reached the aircraft standing on the tarmac when the hijacking began to unfold.

[5] The four hijackers were dressed as Karachi airport security guards and were armed with assault rifles, pistols, grenades, and plastic explosive belts.

The hijackers drove a van that had been modified to look like an airport security vehicle, fitted with a siren and flashing lights.

[6][10] Within a short time after seizing control of the aircraft, the lead hijacker Safarini realized that the cockpit crew had escaped and therefore he would be forced to negotiate with officials.

At approximately 10:00, Safarini went through the plane and arrived at the seat of Rajesh Kumar, a 29-year-old Kenya-born Indian resident of Huntington Beach, California, who had recently been naturalized as an American citizen.

Safarini negotiated with officials, in particular Viraf Daroga, the head of Pan Am's Pakistan operation, stating that if the crew was not sent on the plane within 30 minutes, then Kumar would be shot.

Pakistani personnel on the ramp reported that Kumar was still breathing when he was placed in an ambulance, but he was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital in Karachi.

[citation needed] Safarini joined the hijackers and ordered flight attendants Bhanot, Sunshine Vesuwala,[11] and Madhvi Bahuguna[12] to begin collecting passports.

[13][non-primary source needed] After the passports had been collected, Bhanot came onto the intercom and asked for Michael John Thexton, a British citizen, to come to the front of the plane.

Safarini also asked Thexton if he was married, and claimed he did not like all this violence and killing and said that the Americans and Israelis had taken over his country and left him unable to lead a proper life.

[17] The Pakistani unit responsible for taking the plane was the Special Service Group (SSG) which was led by Brig.

This confusion was later attributed to a rush by officials to take credit for a successful assault on the hijackers followed by a walking-back of statements once the death toll of the tragedy became clear.

On April 5, 2006, the law firm of Crowell & Moring LLP, representing the surviving passengers, estates and family members of the hijacking victims, announced it was filing a civil suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking $10 billion in compensatory damages, plus unspecified punitive damages, from Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi and the five convicted hijackers.

The lawsuit alleged Libya provided the Abu Nidal Organization with material support and also ordered the attack as part of a Libyan-sponsored terrorist campaign against American, European and Israeli interests.

[26] British media that was critical of normalisation of relations between Gaddafi and the West reported in March 2004 (days after Prime Minister Tony Blair visited Tripoli) that Libya was behind the hijacking.

[27] As of September 2015 about $700 million of funds that Libya gave the US to settle claims related to Libyan sponsored terrorism has not been distributed to families of victims who were Indian passport holders.

[22][23] On December 3, 2009, the FBI, in coordination with the State Department, announced a $5M reward for information that leads to the capture of each of the four remaining hijackers of Pan Am 73.

[33] The aircraft was a four-engined Boeing 747-121 delivered to Pan Am on June 18, 1971, with registration N656PA[34] named Clipper Live Yankee by the airline.