Lufthansa Flight 181

Lufthansa Flight 181

D-ABCE, the aircraft involved in the hijacking, pictured at Manchester Airport in 1975
Hijacking
Date	13–18 October 1977 (5 days)
Summary	Hijacking
Site	Initially over the Mediterranean Sea, south of the French coast; subsequently Mogadishu International Airport, Somalia
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-230C
Aircraft name	Landshut
Operator	Lufthansa
IATA flight No.	LH181
ICAO flight No.	DLH181
Call sign	LUFTHANSA 181
Registration	D-ABCE
Flight origin	Son Sant Joan Airport
Destination	Frankfurt International Airport
Occupants	95
Passengers	86 plus 4 hijackers
Crew	5
Fatalities	4 (1 crew, 3 hijackers)
Injuries	5 (1 flight attendant, 3 passengers, 1 hijacker)
Survivors	91 (All passengers, 4 crew, 1 hijacker)

Lufthansa Flight 181 was a Boeing 737-230C jetliner (reg. D-ABCE) named Landshut that was hijacked on 13 October 1977 by four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who called themselves Commando Martyr Halima. The objective of the hijacking was to secure the release of imprisoned Red Army Faction leaders in German prisons. In the early hours of 18 October, just after midnight, the West German counter-terrorism group GSG 9, backed by the Somali Armed Forces, stormed the aircraft in Mogadishu, Somalia, with 86 passengers and four of the total five crew rescued.^[1] The rescue operation was codenamed Feuerzauber (German for "Magic Fire").^[2] The hijacking is considered to be part of the German Autumn. 3 hijackers and the captain were killed.