Airliner Hijacked, 131 Released

A man armed with hand grenades and a pistol hijacked a Colombian airliner today, freed its 131 passengers and then forced it on a hopscotch journey across Latin America, claiming that he was terminally ill with AIDS and wanted $100,000 and to “go home to die” in Cuba.

The hijacker seized the Avianca Boeing 727 jet shortly after takeoff from Medellin, Colombia, at 7:15 a.m. He forced it to return to the airport to release the 131 passengers, retaining the cockpit crew, before beginning a flight to Panama City and then on to the Caribbean island of Aruba, near the Venezuelan coast 1,100 miles to the northeast. Panama City Airport administrator Eduardo Guerrero said the hijacker “appears to be mentally unbalanced.”