List of hostage crises

Last updated November 28, 2024

This is a list of notable hostage crises by date.

Incident	Location(s)	Start	Duration	Number of hostages
Kidnappings during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war	Gaza envelope, Israel	7 October 2023	Ongoing	250+^[1]
Nduga hostage crisis	Nduga Regency, Highland Papua, Indonesia	7 February 2023	1 year, 7 months and 2 weeks	9+^[2]
Colleyville synagogue hostage crisis	Colleyville, Texas, United States	15 January 2022	10 hours, 41 minutes	4^[3]
2020 Lutsk hostage crisis	Lutsk, Volyn Oblast, Ukraine	21 July 2020	12 hours, 21 minutes	13^[4]
2020 Greenhills hostage crisis	San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines	2 March 2020	9 hours	55^[5]
Siege of Marawi	Marawi, Lanao del Sur, Philippines	23 May 2017	5 months	1,770+
2017 Hanoi hostage crisis	Hanoi, Vietnam	15 April 2017	10 days	38
2016 Yerevan hostage crisis	Yerevan, Armenia	17 July 2016	15 days	9
July 2016 Dhaka attack	Gulshan, Dhaka, Bangladesh	1 July 2016	11 hours, 10 minutes	35+^[6]
Orlando nightclub shooting	Orlando, Florida, United States	12 June 2016	3 hours, 12 minutes	320
Kunduz-Takhar highway hostage crisis	Kunduz Province, Afghanistan	31 May 2016	Unclear end date	220+
2015 Bamako hotel attack	Bamako, Mali	20 November 2015	9 hours	170
November 2015 Paris attacks	Paris, France	13 November 2015	2 hours, 20 minutes	20^[7]
Samal Island hostage crisis	Samal, Davao del Norte, Philippines	22 September 2015	13 months
Hypercacher kosher supermarket siege	Porte de Vincennes, Paris, France	9 January 2015	4 hours 30 minutes	19
2014 Peshawar school massacre	Army Public School Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan	15 December 2014	7 hours	1,099
Lindt Cafe siege	Martin Place, Sydney, Australia	15 December 2014	Approximately 17 hours	18^[8]
2014 Moscow school shooting	Moscow, Russia	3 February 2014	Approximately 2 hours	29
Westgate shopping mall attack	Nairobi, Kenya	21 September 2013	3 days
Zamboanga City crisis	Zamboanga City, Philippines	9 September 2013	19 days
2013 Islamabad hostage crisis	Islamabad, Pakistan	15 August 2013	6 hours
2013 Hialeah shooting	Hialeah, Florida	26 July 2013	Approximately 3 hours
2013 Alabama bunker hostage crisis	Midland City, Alabama	29 January 2013	6 days
In Amenas hostage crisis	In Amenas, Algeria	16 January 2013	3 days
2012 Bain murder-kidnappings	Whiteville, Tennessee and Alpine, Mississippi, United States	27 April 2012	13 days
2011 Muar kindergarten hostage crisis	Muar, Johor, Malaysia	7 July 2011	6 hours	30
2011 Hectorville siege	Hectorville, South Australia, Australia	29 April 2011	8 hours
Panama City school board shootings	Panama City, Florida, United States	14 December 2010	Unknown
2010 Baghdad church massacre	Baghdad, Iraq	31 October 2010	About 4 hours
2010 Discovery headquarters hostage crisis	Silver Spring, Maryland, United States	1 September 2010	About 5 hours
Manila hostage crisis	Manila, Philippines	23 August 2010	10 hours 30 mins
2010 Ahmadiyya mosques massacre	Lahore, Pakistan	28 May 2010	Some hours
October 2009 Lahore attacks	Lahore, Pakistan	15 October 2009	1 hour 30 mins
2009 Pakistan Army General Headquarters attack	Rawalpindi, Pakistan	10 October 2009	1 day
Binghamton shooting	Binghamton, New York, United States	3 April 2009	1 day
2009 Lahore police academy attack	Lahore, Pakistan	30 March 2009	Some hours
Bangladesh Rifles revolt	Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh	25 February 2009	2 days
2008 Mumbai attacks	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India	26 November 2008	3 days
Eloá Pimentel hostage crisis	Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil	13 October 2008	4 days
Espírito Santo Bank of Campolide robbery	Lisbon, Portugal	7 August 2008	8 hours
South Korean hostage crisis in Afghanistan	Ghazni Province, Afghanistan	19 July 2007	42 days
Siege of Lal Masjid	Islamabad, Pakistan	3 July 2007	9 days
Johnson Space Center shooting	Houston, Texas, United States	20 April 2007	About 3 hours
West Nickel Mines School shooting	Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States	2 October 2006	Some hours
Platte Canyon High School hostage crisis	Bailey, Colorado, United States	27 September 2006	About 4 hours
Seattle Jewish Federation shooting	Seattle, Washington, United States	28 July 2006	Approximately 15 minutes
Chrobog family kidnapping	Yemen	28 December 2005	3 days
2005 raid on Nalchik	Nalchik, Russia	13 October 2005	Some hours
Ennepetal hostage taking	Ennepetal, Germany	12 April 2005	About 6 hours
Beslan school siege	Beslan, Russia	1 September 2004	3 days
2004 Khobar massacre	Khobar, Saudi Arabia	29 May 2004	25 hours
2003 Sahara hostage crisis	Algeria	22 January 2003	208 days
Moscow theater hostage crisis	Moscow, Russia	23 October 2002	2½ days
Akshardham Temple attack	Gandhinagar, India	24 September 2002	2 days
Dos Palmas kidnappings	Palawan, Philippines	27 May 2001	Varied periods
Operation Barras	Sierra Leone	10 October 2000	17 days
Bus 174 hostage crisis	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	12 June 2000	Some hours
Sauk Siege	Kuala Kangsar, Perak, Malaysia	5 June 2000	3 days
Wasserbillig crèche hostage crisis	Wasserbillig, Luxembourg	31 May 2000	28 hours	52 ^[9]
2000 Fijian coup d'état	Suva, Fiji	19 May 2000	56 days
2000 Sipadan kidnappings	Sipadan, Malaysia, Jolo, Philippines	23 April 2000	Varied periods
Joseph Palczynski standoff	Dundalk, Maryland	17 March 2000	4 days
Indian Airlines Flight 814	Amritsar, India, Dubai, UAE, Lahore, Pakistan, Kandahar, Afghanistan	24 December 1999	8 days	190
1998 Cúa hostage crisis	Cúa, Venezuela	5 April 1998	7 hours
Japanese embassy hostage crisis	Lima, Peru	17 December 1996	126 days
Terrazas del Ávila hostage crisis [ es ]	Caracas, Venezuela	15 April 1996	20 hours
1996 Honolulu hostage crisis	Honolulu, Hawaii, United States	6 February 1996	7 hours
Black Sea hostage crisis	Trabzon, Turkey, Sochi, Russia	16 January 1996	4 days
Kizlyar–Pervomayskoye hostage crisis	Kizlyar and Pervomayskoye, Russia	9 January 1996	9 days
San Román Tragedy [ es ]	Caracas, Venezuela	23 June 1995	6 hours
1995 kidnapping of western tourists in Kashmir	Pahalgam, India	4 July 1995	Unknown
Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis	Budyonnovsk, Russia	14 June 1995	5 days
Air France Flight 8969	Algiers, Algeria, Marseille, France	24 December 1994	3 days	232
1994 kidnappings of western tourists in India	New Delhi, India	20 October 1994	12 days	4
Torp hostage crisis	Larvik and Sandefjord, Norway	28 August 1994	2 days
Gresham cat hostage taking incident	Gresham, Oregon, United States	21 August 1994	Unknown	1 cat
Salt Lake City Public Library hostage incident	Salt Lake City, Utah, United States	7 March 1994	6 hours
1993 Jolimont Centre siege	Canberra, Australia	29 November 1993	2 hours
Neuilly kindergarten hostage crisis	Neuilly-sur-Seine, France	13 May 1993	2 days	22
Supreme Court of Justice hostage crisis	San José, Costa Rica	26 April 1993	4 days
1993 Cangai siege	Cangai, New South Wales, Australia	30 March 1993	26 hours
East Carter High School shooting	Grayson, Kentucky, United States	18 January 1993	16 minutes
Lindhurst High School shooting	Olivehurst, California, United States	1 May 1992	8 hours
Alta View Hospital hostage incident	Sandy, Utah, United States	20 September 1991	18 hours
1991 Sacramento hostage crisis	Sacramento, California, United States	4 April 1991	About 8 hours
Singapore Airlines Flight 117	Singapore	26 March 1991	12 hours	125
Henry's Pub hostage incident	Berkeley, California, United States	28 September 1990	7 hours	33
1990 Hotel Delfino siege	Tuguegarao, Cagayan, Philippines	4 March 1990	Unknown
1989 Davao hostage crisis	Davao City, Philippines	13 August 1989	3 days
Camp Cawa-Cawa siege	Zamboanga City, Philippines	5 January 1989	12 hours
Loveland River House incident	Loveland, Colorado, United States	3 January 1989	2 hours
Papal visit hostage crisis	Maseru, Lesotho	13 September 1988	1 day
Gladbeck hostage crisis	Gladbeck, West Germany	16 August 1988	3 days
Ouvéa cave hostage taking	Ouvéa, New Caledonia	22 April 1988	14 days
Kuwait Airways Flight 422	Mashhad, Iran, Larnaca, Cyprus, Algiers, Algeria	5 April 1988	15 days	110
Pudu prison siege	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	17 October 1986	6 days
Pan Am Flight 73	Karachi, Pakistan	5 September 1986	1 day	379
Mikkeli hostage crisis	Helsinki and Mikkeli, Finland	8 August 1986	14 hours 10 mins
Oulu plane hijacking 1986	Oulu, Finland	20 May 1986	2 hours 45 mins
Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis	Cokeville, Wyoming, United States	16 May 1986	2½ hours
EgyptAir Flight 648	Luqa, Malta	23 November 1985	2 days	98
Palace of Justice siege	Bogotá, Colombia	6 November 1985	2 days
Achille Lauro hijacking	Alexandria and Port Said, Egypt	7 October 1985	2 days	97+
Trans World Airlines Flight 847	Beirut, Lebanon, Algiers, Algeria	14 June 1985	16 days	155
Bus 300 affair	Tel Aviv and Ashkelon, Israel	12 April 1984	2 days
1984 Libyan hostage incident	Tripoli, Libya	17 April 1984	9 months
1984 Sydney bank robbery	Sydney, Australia	31 January 1984	6 hours
Abduction of western tourists in Matabeleland	Lupane, Zimbabwe	23 July 1982	Unknown
Lebanon hostage crisis	Beirut, Lebanon	19 July 1982	Varied periods
Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 206	Bangkok, Thailand	28 March 1981	3 days	53
Iranian Embassy siege	London, United Kingdom	30 April 1980	6 days
Dominican embassy siege	Bogotá, Colombia	27 February 1980	61 days
Grand Mosque seizure	Mecca, Saudi Arabia	2 November 1979	14 days	50,000+
Iran hostage crisis	Tehran, Iran	4 November 1979	444 days	53
Mitsubishi Bank hostage incident	Osaka, Japan	26 January 1979	2 days
Finnair Flight 405	Amsterdam, Netherlands, Helsinki, Finland	30 September 1978	19 hours
1978 Dutch province hall hostage crisis	Assen, Netherlands	13 March 1978	1 day
Cyprus Airways hijacking	Larnaca, Cyprus	19 February 1978	1 day
Lufthansa Flight 181	Larnaca, Cyprus, Dubai, UAE, Aden, South Yemen, Mogadishu, Somalia	13 October 1977	5 days
Japan Air Lines Flight 472	Dhaka, Bangladesh, Kuwait City, Kuwait, Damascus, Syria	28 September 1977	5 days
1977 Dutch train hijacking	De Punt, Netherlands	23 May 1977	20 days
1977 Dutch school hostage crisis	Bovensmilde, Netherlands	23 May 1977	20 days
1977 Hanafi siege	Washington, D.C., United States	9 March 1977	39 hours
TWA Flight 355	Montreal and Gander, Canada, Keflavík, Iceland, Paris, France	10 September 1976	2 days
Operation Entebbe	Benghazi, Libya, Entebbe, Uganda	27 June 1976	8 days	258
Balcombe Street siege	London, United Kingdom	6 December 1975	5 days
OPEC siege	Vienna, Austria, Algiers, Algeria, Tripoli, Libya	21 December 1975	3 days
1975 Indonesian consulate hostage crisis	Amsterdam, Netherlands	4 December 1975	15 days
1975 Dutch train hostage crisis	Wijster, Netherlands	2 December 1975	12 days
Philippine Airlines Flight 111	Manila, Philippines	6 October 1975	1 hour
Spaghetti House siege	London, United Kingdom	28 September 1975	6 days	6^[10]
1975 AIA building hostage crisis	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	5 August 1975	5 days
Israeli consulate hostage crisis ^[11]	Johannesburg, South Africa	29 April 1975	19 hours
West German Embassy siege in Stockholm	Stockholm, Sweden	24 April 1975	12 hours
1974 French Embassy attack in The Hague	The Hague, Netherlands	13 September 1974	4 days
1974 Huntsville Prison siege	Huntsville, Texas, United States	24 July 1974	11 days
Ma'alot massacre	Ma'alot, Israel	15 May 1974	2 days
Laju incident	Singapore	31 January 1974	8 days
Norrmalmstorg robbery	Stockholm, Sweden	23 August 1973	5 days
Roman Catholic mission hostage crisis	Centenary, Rhodesia	5 July 1973	Unknown
1973 CIBC bank robbery	Kenora, Ontario, Canada	10 May 1973	Unknown
Attack on the Saudi Embassy in Khartoum	Khartoum, Sudan	1 March 1973	2½ days
1973 Brooklyn hostage crisis	New York City, New York, United States	19 January 1973	3 days
Balassagyarmat hostage crisis [ hu ]	Balassagyarmat, Hungary	7 January 1973	6 days
Lufthansa Flight 615	Zagreb, Yugoslavia	29 October 1972	15 hours
Munich massacre	Munich, West Germany	5 September 1972	21 hours
Lod Airport massacre	Lod, Israel	30 May 1972	24 minutes
Sabena Flight 572	Lod, Israel	8 May 1972	1 day
Lufthansa Flight 649	Aden, South Yemen	22 February 1972	2 days
Asama-Sansō incident	Karuizawa, Japan	19 February 1972	9 days
Northwest Orient Flight 305 (D. B. Cooper)	Washington and Oregon, United States	24 November 1971	4 hours
October Crisis	Quebec, Canada	5 October 1970	60 days
Dawson's Field hijackings	Zarka, Jordan	6 September 1970	8 days
Marin County Civic Center attacks	San Rafael, California, United States	7 August 1970	2 hours
Operation Dragon Rouge	Stanleyville, Congo-Léopoldville	24 November 1964	20–30 days
Aerolíneas Argentinas Flight 648 hijacking	Stanley, Falkland Islands	28 September 1966	2 days
Siege of Sidney Street	London, United Kingdom	2 January 1911	2 days
Battle of Ballingarry	Ballingarry, Ireland, United Kingdom	29 July 1848	1 day
Froberg mutiny	Fort Ricasoli, Malta	4 April 1807	6 days

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References

↑ "Hostages Held by Hamas: The Names of Those Abducted From Israel". Haaretz. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
↑ "Six soldiers killed, 30 missing in attempt to rescue kidnapped pilot in West Papua". The Guardian. Associated Press. 2023-04-16. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 2023-12-07.
↑ "Standoff at Texas synagogue ends with all hostages safe, suspect dead". ABC News. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
↑ "У Луцьку звільнили 13 заручників". konkurent.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-12-07.
↑ "Negotiator in Greenhills incident redeems himself with successful conclusion to hostage drama". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
↑ "Holey Artisan cafe: Bangladesh Islamists sentenced to death for 2016 attack". 2019-11-27. Retrieved 2024-10-03.
↑ Cruickshank, Paul (2016-03-30). "Inside the Paris and Brussels terror attacks". CNN. Retrieved 2024-10-03.
↑ "Sydney siege: Police should have stormed cafe sooner, coroner rules". BBC News. 2017-05-24. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
↑ https://today.rtl.lu/news/luxembourg/a/1527804.html
↑ Express, Daily (2023-10-01). "October 1st - On this day: 48 years since spaghetti house six day siege". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-03.
↑ "Johannesburg Siege Ends; Police Hold Israeli Agent". www.nytimes.com. 1975-04-29. Retrieved 2022-03-28.

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[1] "Hostages Held by Hamas: The Names of Those Abducted From Israel". Haaretz. Retrieved 2023-12-07.

[2] "Six soldiers killed, 30 missing in attempt to rescue kidnapped pilot in West Papua". The Guardian. Associated Press. 2023-04-16. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 2023-12-07.

[3] "Standoff at Texas synagogue ends with all hostages safe, suspect dead". ABC News. Retrieved 2023-12-07.

[4] "У Луцьку звільнили 13 заручників". konkurent.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-12-07.

[5] "Negotiator in Greenhills incident redeems himself with successful conclusion to hostage drama". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 2023-12-07.

[6] "Holey Artisan cafe: Bangladesh Islamists sentenced to death for 2016 attack". 2019-11-27. Retrieved 2024-10-03.

[7] Cruickshank, Paul (2016-03-30). "Inside the Paris and Brussels terror attacks". CNN. Retrieved 2024-10-03.

[8] "Sydney siege: Police should have stormed cafe sooner, coroner rules". BBC News. 2017-05-24. Retrieved 2023-12-07.

[9] ttps://today.rtl.lu/news/luxembourg/a/1527804.html

[10] Express, Daily (2023-10-01). "October 1st - On this day: 48 years since spaghetti house six day siege". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-03.

[11] "Johannesburg Siege Ends; Police Hold Israeli Agent". www.nytimes.com. 1975-04-29. Retrieved 2022-03-28.

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