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IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack: Captain Devi Sharan recalls harrowing thought of crashing plane in Lahore: ‘I had only one choice…’
Recently, Captain Devi Sharan of IC 814 recounted the harrowing incident, revealing that he was prepared to crash the plane but decided to delay after seeing people on the ground.
Anubhav Sinha's IC: 814: The Kandahar Hijack, starring Vijay Varma in the lead role, premiered on Netflix on August 29, 2024. The limited series has garnered significant attention and received stellar reviews from both audiences and critics. In a recent interview, Captain Devi Sharan, the pilot in charge of the flight, shared his harrowing experience, revealing that he had only one choice: he was prepared to crash the plane in Lahore, Pakistan. The series is based on Captain Devi Sharan's book Flight Into Fear, which inspired the Netflix adaptation.
In an interview with CNN, Captain Sharan detailed how the hijackers initially ordered him to fly the plane to Pakistan. When they were refused permission to land there, he diverted the flight to Amritsar. The situation intensified when the hijackers, determined not to die in India, forced him to take off from Amritsar despite dangerously low fuel, showing little concern for the risk of crashing.
When the flight finally reached Lahore, the runway lights at the Lahore airport were switched off, and the runway was closed. With fuel running out, Sharan braced himself for a crash landing. He said, “I reached Lahore, everything was closed,” he said. “Airport runway was closed. I didn’t have any choice. I didn’t have any fuel to go back to Amritsar. I had only one choice: to crash the plane,” he added.
Despite his plan to crash the plane, Captain Sharan chose to delay the landing upon seeing people on the ground. The situation changed dramatically when Pakistani airport authorities, recognizing the imminent danger, granted the flight clearance to land just in time.
IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack is based on true events and showcases the 7 days of terror that the country will never forget. Apart from Vijay, the cast includes Dia Mirza, Patralekhaa, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, and Kumud Mishra among others.
Sharan explained that the officials realized the necessity of an emergency landing and cleared him to use the runway. With only about a minute and a half of fuel remaining, he managed to land safely.
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