1996Nov, 23
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 is hijacked, then crashes into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Comoros after running out of fuel, killing 125.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was a scheduled 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 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; 125 of the 175 passengers and crew on board, including the three hijackers, died. This is the first recorded instance of a partially successful water landing utilizing a wide-body aircraft, the first successful landing being Pan Am Flight 6 in 1956, in which all passengers on board survived, although the plane used was a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, which is not a wide-body aircraft.
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Events on 1996
- 10Feb
Garry Kasparov
IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess for the first time. - 13May
Bangladesh
Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people. - 10Jun
Sinn Féin
Peace talks begin in Northern Ireland without the participation of Sinn Féin. - 4Sep
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
War on Drugs: Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) attack a military base in Guaviare, starting three weeks of guerrilla warfare in which at least 130 Colombians are killed. - 25Nov
Florida
An ice storm strikes the central U.S., killing 26 people. A powerful windstorm affects Florida and winds gust over 90 mph, toppling trees and flipping trailers.