Bombing | |
---|---|
Date | April 2, 1986 |
Summary | Bombing |
Site | Argos, Greece |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Boeing 727-231 |
Operator | Trans World Airlines |
Registration | N54340 [1] |
Flight origin | Los Angeles International Airport |
1st stopover | John F. Kennedy International Airport |
2nd stopover | Leonardo da Vinci Int'l Airport |
3rd stopover | Athens (Ellinikon) Int'l Airport |
Destination | Cairo International Airport |
Passengers | 115 [2] |
Crew | 7 [2] |
Fatalities | 4 |
Injuries | 7 [3] |
Survivors | 118 [2] |
Trans World Airlines Flight 840 was a regularly scheduled flight from Los Angeles to Cairo via New York City, Rome, and Athens on April 2, 1986. About 20 minutes before landing in Athens, a bomb was detonated on the aircraft while it was over Argos, Greece, blasting a hole in the plane's starboard side. Four passengers died after being blown out, while another seven were injured by flying shrapnel and debris. The aircraft then made a successful emergency landing with no further loss of life. [4]
The Boeing 727-231 involved in the incident was delivered to TWA in 1974, with the registration N54340. [5] [6] It was fitted with 3 P&W JT8D-5 turbofan engines. [5]
The flight originated in Los Angeles on a Boeing 747 and transferred to a Boeing 727 in Rome for the remainder of the flight. [7] After taking off from Rome, Italy, the flight remained uneventful until around 20 minutes before landing at Athens, when the aircraft was at around 11,000 feet (3,400 m). [8] A bomb hidden underneath seat 10F during an earlier leg of the flight detonated, blasting a hole in the starboard side of the fuselage in front of the wing. [7]
Four American passengers, including an eight-month-old infant, were ejected through the hole to their deaths below. The victims were identified as a Colombian-American man; and a woman, her daughter, and her infant granddaughter. [7] Seven others on the aircraft were injured by shrapnel as the cabin suffered a rapid decompression. However, as the aircraft was in the middle of its approach to Athens, the explosion wasn't as catastrophic as it would have been at a higher altitude. [7] The remaining 110 passengers survived the incident as pilot Richard "Pete" Petersen made an emergency landing. [7]
The bodies of three of the four victims were later recovered from an unused Greek Air Force landing strip near Argos; the fourth was found in the sea. [7]
A group calling itself the Arab Revolutionary Cells claimed responsibility, saying it was committed in retaliation for American imperialism and clashes with Libya in the Gulf of Sidra the week before. [9]
The aircraft was substantially damaged but was repaired and returned to service until TWA ceased operations in 2001. The aircraft was scrapped in 2002. [10]
Investigators concluded that the bomb contained one pound of plastic explosive. As the bomb was placed on by the floor of the cabin, the explosion tore a hole downward, where the fuselage absorbed the most damage. It is suspected it had been placed beneath the seat on a previous journey by a Lebanese woman (later arrested, never convicted) who worked for the Abu Nidal Organisation, which was dedicated to the destruction of the state of Israel. [11] They had previously hijacked and bombed several other aircraft, as well as committing various terrorist attacks in parts of the Middle East. [12]
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