How brave Indian pilots ‘stole’ IC 814 back from Taliban

“Now even as a passenger, I will always be looking at people around me to ensure that everyone is alright and nothing’s wrong. A creeping doubt will linger on.”That’s how Captain Devi Sharan — commander of the Indian Airlines flight IC 814 hijacked in December 1999 — says he will travel here on after operated his last flight as a pilot on January 4, 2025, retiring on turning 65.“IC 814 hijacking taught me life is very unpredictable and one has to be always ready to fight back. Those were the toughest days of my life, and my only aim was to save lives of everyone on that aircraft. I hope and pray no crew member, passenger or anyone else ever goes through such an experience,” Sharan told TOI a day after his retirement. Capt Devi Sharan, commander of Indian airlines aircraft (flight IC 814) that was hijacked in Dec 1999, retired from service on Saturday.

Here Air India cabin crew celebrating his retirement on board the Boeing 787 after a Melbourne Delhi flight pic.twitter.com/JO6m3U49Zd

— aneesh phadnis (@aneeshp) January 5, 2025 Here's an account of the hijacking and how Captain Sharan’s colleague, Captain SPS Suri, brought the hijacked aircraft back, stealing it from right under the Taliban’s noses:On December 24, 1999, Indian Airlines flight IC 814 was hijacked en route from Nepal to New Delhi. After being forced to land in Amritsar and Dubai (where the hijackers killed one passenger and wounded others), the hijacked plane was eventually flown to Kandahar Airport in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.On December 26, Captain Suri travelled from Delhi to Kandahar on an IA Airbus A320 relief flight with negotiators and a team of crew members.After six days of both planes remaining parked at Kandahar, the crew and passengers of the hijacked aircraft left on December 31 on the Airbus A320 that Suri had flown in.Suri, Captain JRD Rao and two engineers stayed behind to bring back the hijacked aircraft home. medium85769059When Captain Suri and Captain Sharan spoke"Captain Devi Sharan and I were on the same flight path for a short duration that day (December 24) when IC 814 was hijacked. I was on the Sharjah to Calicut route, and he was flying the already hijacked plane from Dubai to Kandahar," recalled Captain Suri."His aircraft was just ahead of mine and short of Delhi. We talked to each other. We knew what was happening. I said, 'Devi Sharan' and he replied, 'We'll talk later.' The hijackers were not letting him speak. They were in control.""By the time I reached India, Devi Sharan's IC 814 had been made to land in Kandahar," Captain Suri said. medium nocaption85772625The daring escape in Captain Suri's wordsOur aircraft (IA Airbus A320 relief flight) was parked one kilometre away from the hijacked aircraft but we were totally blind. We did not know anything.When the hijackers spoke with the ground control, we could hear them – 'kele leke aa jaana, murgi leke aa jaana, paani kamti ho gaya hai, zara toilet saaf karo, peeche unko daba ke rakho [bring bananas, bring chicken, we are running out of water, clean the toilets, keep the passengers at the back of the aircraft].'I am sure at night they would even get out (of the hijacked aircraft) and come back because they had access to the nose ladder. They were in contact all the time with their leaders. We now know their leaders were all from Pakistan ISI and were housed in a room next to Indian negotiators in the airport terminal building.We had no clue what was happening. It was their airport. They roamed around in open jeeps with machine guns. We were scared of even coming out of our plane. medium85765660We slept on the floor of the aircraft, including our two deputy managing directors.My co-pilot, Captain JRD Rao had a bad cold. The Taliban used to give us one orange, one piece of chicken and one sandwich per person, per day.Twice a day, I and the flight engineers were allowed to go to the terminal building. But we stuck out like sore thumbs. No one would look at us.Finally, when negotiations ended (on December 31) and the hostages had gone back, we thought it would be our turn next. medium85769073We asked for jet fuel. They had parked a huge fuel tanker in front of the aircraft, but they told us that they had run out of jet fuel and that fresh supplies were being sought from Quetta.As we sat in the cockpit, hoping they would give us the fuel and let us leave, a man suddenly appeared and said: “Commander saheb is saying unless you give us our ‘tohfa’ [gift] we will not let you leave.”There was a bag lying behind a seat in the fifth row. It appeared to have money and some other stuff taken from passengers. We handed it to the man and said, “Please let us leave.” He looked at it and said, “This is not what we want,” and left the money bag there.When he came back, he said the commander wants a bag lying in the baggage hold.Then people arrived in three land cruisers and began checking each bag. They found a big, maroon duffle bag. They took the bag out and went away.The mujahideen in the ATC tower told us that the bag contained explosives. After they took the bag, we heard an explosion. But it was dark and we weren’t able to make out exactly what was happening.We again requested ATC to let us go. Once again, they told us there was no jet fuel available. I relayed a message to a Jet Airways plane that was flying over Mumbai that we are not being allowed to take off.We then went to the airport building to retire for the night. medium85765771Mullah Omar and a handful of almondsSometime during the night, Mullah Omar came to the airport building. He was very nice to us. He pulled out a handful of almonds from inside his kaftan and handed them to all of us and said, “Yeh le sardaar, badaam kha le, raat nikal jayegi [Here sardaar, eat some almonds, it will help you get through the night].”In the morning, we again asked them if we could leave. They said that neither Pakistan nor Kabul were giving flying clearance.We told the mujahideen to remove the step ladder propped up against the plane. We knew if we tried to make a move and leave, the ladder would have blocked our way. The mujahideen, surprisingly, agreed.Then we asked them to remove the fuel tanker. While they did move the tanker, I felt it was still blocking our path. JRD Rao asked me if the wing of the aircraft would clear the tanker. I said it would.We decided to forget the flying clearance and take our chance. We turned the power on. We were surprised that after seven days of plane idling, it still worked. Then we turned on the switch in the cockpit and even that worked. We got pneumatic power, the engine also started. The runway was right in front of us. Our wing cleared the tanker. We gradually started the second engine.The ATC guy kept screaming, “814 Delta, you are not allowed to take off, you're not clear.” We were worried they would bring in a truck and block our way again. JRD Rao told me to not worry. medium85765729We got airborne. Kabul ATC kept was asking, “Whose permission have you got? You have not been cleared to fly.” We pretended we couldn’t hear and kept asking them to repeat themselves and thus managed to enter Pakistani airspace.In Pakistan, they asked us, “Where is your overflying clearance?” Our answer: “Happy Millennium, Happy New Year.”The Pakistan ATC again asked us about our clearance to fly over Pakistani territory. We accelerated with the hope that we could quickly get out of Pakistani airspace.We were worried Pakistani fighters would be scrambled and they would shoot us down. But they didn’t. Either they didn’t have the time or decided against it, we don't know.Soon we reached out to Alpha control, India's control. A voice crackled: “814 Delta, welcome home. Happy New Year. Cleared to Delhi direct.”We reached Delhi and no one even knew we had landed. We had to call our flight operations and tell them. Everybody was surprised.When I finally reached home, my wife said, “Bewakoof [Foolish], I’m proud of you.”Untitled Carousel 79936105