Japan Air Lines Flight 472 (1977)

Fugitives’ portraits from the official website of The Metropolitan police departments (in Japanese)
Fugitives’ portraits from the official website of The Metropolitan police departments (in Japanese)
	Bando in c. 1987
	Sasaki in c. 1998
	Okudaira in c. 1998
	Daidōji in c. 1994
	Nihei in 1976

Japan Air Lines Flight 472
	JA8033, the aircraft involved in the hijacking, at Honolulu International Airport in 1969
Hijacking
Date	28 September 1977
Summary	Hijacking
Site	Dhaka International Airport, Bangladesh
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Douglas DC-8-62
Operator	Japan Air Lines
Registration	JA8033
Flight origin	Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France
Stopover	Santacruz Airport, Bombay, India
Destination	Tokyo International Airport, Tokyo, Japan
Passengers	142 (including 5 hijackers)
Crew	14
Fatalities	0
Survivors	156 (all)

Japan Air Lines Flight 472 was an aircraft hijacking carried out by the Japanese Red Army (JRA) on 28 September 1977.

Incident

The Douglas DC-8, en route from Paris to Haneda Airport in Tokyo with 156 people on board, stopped in Bombay, India. Shortly after taking off from Bombay, five armed JRA members, led by Osamu Maruoka, hijacked the aircraft and ordered it flown to Dhaka, Bangladesh. At Dhaka, the hijackers took the passengers and crew hostage, demanding US$6 million and the release of nine imprisoned JRA members.^[3] The Chief of Air Staff of Bangladesh Air Force, AG Mahmud, negotiated with the hijackers from the control tower.^[4] Things were further complicated at the airport when on 1 October 1977 Bangladesh Air Force mutinied with the lead negotiator almost being killed.^[5] The next day (29 September), five hostages were released, including American actress Carole Wells,^[3] who was on her honeymoon with her husband, former California assemblyman Walter J. Karabian.^[6] Karabian remained on board.

On 1 October Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda announced that the Japanese government would accept the hijackers' demands, on the principle that "the life of a single person outweighs the earth." Six of the imprisoned JRA members were then released.^[1]

A chartered Japan Airlines flight carried the money and the six released JRA members to Dhaka, where the exchange took place on 2 October. The hijackers released 118 passengers and crew members. On 3 October, they flew to Kuwait City and Damascus, where they released eleven more hostages. Finally, the aircraft was flown to Algeria, where it was impounded by authorities and the remaining hostages were freed.^[1]

List of hijackers and released prisoners

Hijackers

Osamu Maruoka (丸岡修, Maruoka Osamu) , caught in 1987 when he attempted to enter Japan on a false passport. A life sentence was finalized in 2000, and he died of a heart problem in 2011 in prison.
Norio Sasaki (佐々木規夫, Sasaki Norio) , is still at large
Kunio Bandō (坂東國男, Bandō Kunio), is still at large
Jun Nishikawa (西川純, Nishikawa Jun)
Haruo Wakō (和光晴生, Wakō Haruo), hasn't been charged with this hijacking

Released prisoners

Junzō Okudaira (奥平純三, Okudaira Junzō), is still at large
Tsutomu Shirosaki (城崎勉, Shirosaki Tsutomu)
Ayako Daidōji (大道寺あや子, Daidōji Ayako), is still at large
Yukiko Ekida (浴田由紀子, Ekida Yukiko)
Hiroshi Sensui (泉水博, Sensui Hiroshi)
Akira Nihei (仁平映, Nihei Akira), is still at large

Aftermath

The incident contrasted the European and American approach of non-negotiation with terrorists to Japan's approach of appeasing terrorists if necessary. Shortly after the incident, Japan's National Police Agency established a Special Assault Team to deal with future acts of terrorism.^[7] Several of the JRA terrorists involved in the hijacking have yet to be apprehended and their current whereabouts are unknown.^[8]

Osamu Maruoka, who also led the hijacking of Japan Air Lines Flight 404 in 1973, escaped and remained a fugitive until 1987 when he was arrested in Tokyo after entering Japan on a forged passport. Given a life sentence, he died in prison on 29 May 2011.^[9] Another of the hijackers, Jun Nishikawa, eventually returned to Japan, was arrested, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.^[10]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Schreiber, p. 216.
^ ＪＡ８０３３ダッカハイジャック政府派遣特別機添乗整備記録 Archived 5 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine()(in Japanese)
^ ^a ^b "Japan agrees to terrorists' demand to free nine prisoners". The Herald (Jasper, Indiana). 29 September 1977. p. 3. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
^ "Former Bangladesh Air Force chief AG Mahmud to receive Japan Imperial Decoration". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
^ Islam, Shariful; Khan, Mohammad Jamil (8 May 2017). "Japan still remembers his heroics". The Daily Star (Dhaka, Bangladesh). Retrieved 13 December 2022.
^ "Japan agrees to pay hijackers ransom". Idaho State Journal. 29 September 1977. p. 1. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
^ Itō (2004), pp. 46–51.
^ Schreiber, p. 216–217.
^ "Ex-Red Army member Maruoka dies", Japan Times, 30 May 2011.
^ Kyodo News, "Japanese Red Army member's life sentence to stand", The Japan Times, 15 September 2011, p. 2.

References

Itō, Kōichi (2004). The truth of the Metropolitan Police Special unit (in Japanese). Dainihon-kaiga. ISBN 978-4499228657.
Schreiber, Mark (1996). Shocking Crimes of Postwar Japan. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 4-900737-34-8.