Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961

ET-AIZ, the aircraft involved, pictured in October 1989, when still wearing an older livery
Hijacking/Accident
Date	23 November 1996 (1996-11-23)
Summary	Hijacking leading to fuel exhaustion, subsequent ditching
Site	Grande Comore, Comoros 11°22′22″S 43°18′25″E / 11.37278°S 43.30694°E / -11.37278; 43.30694
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 767-260ER
Operator	Ethiopian Airlines
IATA flight No.	ET961
ICAO flight No.	ETH961
Call sign	ETHIOPIAN 961
Registration	ET-AIZ
Flight origin	Bole International Airport Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
1st stopover	Jomo Kenyatta Int'l Airport Nairobi, Kenya
2nd stopover	Maya-Maya Airport Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo
Last stopover	Murtala Mohammed Int'l Airport Lagos, Nigeria
Destination	Port Bouet Airport Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Occupants	175 (including 3 hijackers)
Passengers	163 (including 3 hijackers)
Crew	12
Fatalities	125 (including 3 hijackers)
Injuries	46
Survivors	50

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was a scheduled international flight serving the route Addis Ababa–Nairobi–Brazzaville–Lagos–Abidjan. On 23 November 1996, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 767-200ER, was hijacked^[1] en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi^[2] by three Ethiopians seeking asylum in Australia.^[3] The plane crash-landed in the Indian Ocean near Grande Comore, Comoros Islands, due to fuel exhaustion; 125 of the 175 passengers and crew on board, including the three hijackers, died.^[3] This is the first recorded instance of a ditching utilizing a wide-body aircraft.