25 years ago today Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was hijacked and crashed off the coast of Africa near the Comoros Islands. 125 of the 175 onboard died when the aircraft impacted the water. The plane was hijacked en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi by three Ethiopians seeking asylum in Australia. They ordered the crew to fly Boeing 767-200ER to Australia but the aircraft ran out of fuel and was forced to ditch in the Indian Ocean near Grande Comore. The water ditching, which was captured on fil

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 23 November 1996 Boeing 767-200ER, was hijacked en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi by three Ethiopians seeking asylum in Australia. The plane crash-landed in the Indian Ocean near Grande Comore, Comoros Islands, due to fuel exhaustion. 20 minutes into the flight, three Ethiopian men charged the cockpit and hijacked the aircraft after taking an axe and a fire extinguisher from the cockpit. Instead of flying east towards Australia, the captain followed the African c