LS Hijack plane landing
0.06


MS Police at airport
0.09


MS Police keeping people away from plane
0.14


MS helicopter gun ship (2 shots)
0.20


MS Reporter at airport
0.24


MS PAN police and plane
0.30


MS TRAVEL SHOT to Presidential palace
0.35


MS Captain of hijacked plane
0.40


MS Pres. Frei, airline captain & hostess
0.49



Initials RM/BE/jr



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Two teen-aged hijackers overpowered by the pilot and co-pilot of a Chilean airliner in midair yesterday thwarting an attempt to fly to Cuba.

The episode began when the teen-agers, Pedro Jose Suarez, 16, and Patricio Degach Ravie, 14, took over a twin-jet Caravelle of the Chilean National Airliner (LAN) when it was on a flight from Santiago to Puerto Mont in southern Chile with 62 persons aboard.

The plane landed at Antofagasta 650 miles up the coast from Santiago to refuel. But the plane developed engine trouble before taking off and had to return to the ramp. The hijackers forced the crew to gunpoint to switch to another Caravelle which was parked nearby. It took off and headed for Cuba, but the pilot, Leonidas Medina, and the co-pilot subdued the youngsters and returned to Santiago. Police surrounding the plane when it landed and the hijackers were taken off in a patrol car. The crew were taken to the Presidential Palace where they were received by President Eduardo Frei.