Flight 648: Wings of Blood

By Tarak Ghosh

This captivating book, "Flight 648: Wings of Blood” unravels the history and mystery of what really happened on the Egyptair Flight 648. After reading this book, you will uncover the truth behind the hijacking of Flight 648 with an in-depth look into the two-minute commando operation that brought hell to Luqa airport and how it put Malta on the map for the worst ever airplane massacre before the September 11 attacks 16 years later.

Thirty-eight years ago, in November 1985, an Egyptian military commando unit stormed the hijacked Egyptair Flight 648 with more than 96 people on board, triggering a grenade and gun battle that set the aircraft on fire and killed 57 passengers and hijackers.

Benefits from reading this book include:

* Uncovering the truth behind the hijacking of Flight 648

* Gaining an emotional understanding of what happened to the passengers and the crews of the aircraft

* Discovering how this tragedy changed Malta and the world forever

 

This book includes:

* An in-depth look into the two-minute commando operation

* Facts about the hijackers and the choices made by the government of Egypt

* A story of courage, tragedy and a search for the truth

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: Nov 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9783748764076

Book preview

Flight 648

FLIGHT 648

Wings of Blood

(An Inner Story)

Tarak Ghosh

BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Sonnenstraße 23

80331 Munich

Germany

Title Page

Flight 648, Wings of Blood (True Crime) , a non-fiction by Tarak Ghosh

Other titles from the same author

Flight 648 by Tarak Ghosh

Non-fiction

Other titles from the author

Beyond the Space (Romance, Paperback & E-book), I Saw My Killer (Romance, Paperback & E-book), Castle Waits (Romance, Paperback & E-book) Silent Cockpit ( Non-fiction),  Orphanage, (Paperback),  Flight 73( Aviation Mystery, Non-fiction), I Am Suzan (Romance, Paperback & E-book), Silent Shriek (Non-Fiction), Hunger Never Fades Away (Romantic Fiction Paperback & E-book), Lucy (Collection of short stories, E-book), Hell Flower (Sci-Fi, Paperback & E-book), The Snake Woman (Sci-Fi, Paperback & E-book), Lust & Poison (Sci-Fi, Paperback & E-book), Indian Meditation (Paperback & E-book)

ISBN: 978-3-7487-6407-6

Cover Image: Pixabay

Cover Design: T. Kashyap

First E-book Edition: October, 2020

Second Edition: July, 2023

E-book published by

BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Sonnenstraße 23

80331 Munich

Germany

Dedication

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the memory of those innocent passengers who were killed in the hijacked EgyptAir Flight 648 on November, 1985.

Acknowledgment

I am grateful to the Judicial Department of the USA and Malta, and the newspapers published from Malta and the USA. I have taken information and articles from the newspapers and Wikipedia to build the situation and scene. I am also grateful to Major Tony Abela, the technical advisor to Prime Minister Dr. Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici and his Cabinet, Carlos M. Pérez Major, United States Arm, Mrs. Jackie Pflug, Ben Weidlich of the Collegiate Times and Civia Tamarkin for their valuable articles and interviews that have helped me to write this non-fiction.

I am thankful to the following newspapers, magazines, persons & public domains

From the Author

Flight 648, Wings of Blood

Thirty-eight years ago, on November 23, 1985, Egyptair Flight 648, bound from Athens to Cairo, was hijacked and forced to land in Malta by three Palestine members of Abu Nidal.

            On that day Flight 648 took off on its Athens to Cairo route as usual. Ten minutes after takeoff, three Palestine members of Abu Nidal, carrying hand grenades and guns hijacked the plane and forced it to land in Malta.  Libya was the original destination of the hijackers, but due to a lack of fuel, Malta was chosen as a more suitable option. There, the five Israeli and American passengers were singled out and shot in the back of their heads by Omar Rajaq, the hijacker. A 24-hour hijack came to an end after a two-minute commando operation that brought hell to Luqa airport and put Malta on the map for the worst-ever airplane massacre before the September 11 attacks 16 years later. No one would have thought that on 23rd November 1985, something so horrible would occur and get Malta involved in the dealings.

            However, despite Rezaq's horrific cold-blooded actions, the bloodbath had yet to start. In the Egyptian commandos' raid, 57 passengers – including pregnant women, children, and crews – suffocated from the fumes that enveloped the aircraft when the commandos placed a bomb underneath the fuselage to break into the hold. The Egyptair Flight 648 hijacking was major. But it differed markedly from the TWA and Achille Lauro hijackings in that it has left many more than the usual number of questions unanswered. Such as…

            What role did the task force play in the preparations for the storming of the plane? Why did the Maltese prevent the Americans, who might have supplied the Egyptian commando with much-needed technical know-how and probably saved many of the 57 lives lost in the attack, from arriving in time?

            Was the Egyptian paratroop commando as inefficient as it appeared or did it act based on wrong or misleading information? Why did only one of the three, four, or five Egyptian security men on board resist the hijack attempt? Why did the other Egyptian air Marshalls fail even to try and rescue their colleague?

            Did the Egyptian crew, as some survivors charge, cooperate, willingly or unwillingly, with the hijackers in dragging out of their seats for execution some of the passengers, including the seriously injured Israeli?

            Where did the weapons used by the hijackers come from?" Were they on board the plane when it landed at Athens from Cairo before it was forced to fly to Malta, or were they smuggled on board at Athens Airport?

            Who were the hijackers, what did they want and who was behind them? During the 24 hours, they controlled the plane but made no political demands and said nothing which could reveal their identities or political ideology.

Only two of the five passengers shot in the head by Razaq died from their wounds. Patrick Baker, Tamar Artzi, and  Jackie Pflug all lived, while Nitzan Mendelson and Scarlett Rogencamp died. The other 57 passengers and crews had died during the commando operation.

Tarak Ghosh

July, 2023

Chapter 1 A Journey Towards Death

            Ellinikon International Airport in Greece is located 4.3 miles south of Athens, and just west of Glyfada. It was named after the village of  Elliniko (Elleniko), now a suburb of Athens. The airport had an official capacity of 11 million passengers per year but had served 13.5 million passengers during its last year of operations.

            The airport was built in 1938. Germans invaded Greece in 1941, and Kalamaki Airfield (as the site was then known) was used as a Luftwaffe air base during the occupation. After World War II, the Greek government allowed the United States to use the airport from 1945 until 1993. Known as Hassani Airport in 1945, it was used by the United States Army Air Forces as early as 1 October 1945, as a base of operations for Air Transport Command flights between Rome, Italy, and points in the Middle East. By agreement with Greece, the USAF operated out of the airport for well over four decades. In 1988, Greece decided not to extend the arrangement, and the USAF concluded its operations there in 1991.[5] The airport was the base of operations for the Greek national carrier Olympic Airways.

            EgyptAir, originally named Misr Airwork, was founded in 1932. It later became the first airline in the Middle East and Africa and the world's seventh carrier at the time to join the International Air Transport Association. The airline began international flights in 1934, with service between Cairo and the Palestinian region.

            From 1949 to 1957, as it expanded its international operations, the airline shortened its name to Misrair. Beginning in 1957, it was known as United Arab Airlines, finally changing to EgyptAir in 1971.

            It was 23 March 1985. the passengers of Flight 648 were waiting eagerly in the Ellington International Airport lounge to reach their destination, Cairo.  EgyptAir Flight 648 was a regularly scheduled international flight between Athens Ellingkon InterAirport in Greece and Cairo International Airport in Egypt. It was a  Boeing 737-200  airliner, registered SU-AYH, servicing the flight. The Egyptair Flight 648, carrying 92 passengers and 6 crew members, took off from the Athens airport, bound for Cairo.at 08:09 UTC.

            Most of the passengers were Egyptians, the next Greek and Israeli nationals.  Lupita Pallás Téllez was sitting in the airport lounge, lazily watching the hustle-bustle of the passengers. She was a known face to the Mexican Tv and movie audiences. But, here no one looked at her as if she was a common person, not a movie celeb. She let a sigh. Her daughter, a 26-year-old young girl Laila Guadalupe Ortiz de Pinedo Pallas was sitting beside her. Lupita turned to her and said, Laila." Laila didn't respond. Her eyes were fixed on the page of a magazine that she bought minutes ago from a magazine-stand, outside the airport.

            Lupita stared at her for a moment, then she scanned around and saw no one of importance; instead she noticed three young men rigidly fixed in the seat across from her. Her scrutinizing eyes reached the first man's face; she was taken aback by his expression. He looked extremely nervous. She moved her eyes from the man's face and looked at the second person,