Photo: India Post, Government of India / GODL-India (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Neerja Bhanot

ニーラ・バノット　/　にーら・ばのっと

Flight attendant from India

September 7, 1963 – September 5, 1986　・　Chandigarh, India

flight attendant
model

My Take

Neerja Bhanot's story humbles me every time. A young flight attendant and model from Chandigarh, she was just two days shy of her 23rd birthday when hijackers seized Pan Am Flight 73 in 1986. Instead of saving herself, she hid passports, helped passengers escape, and died shielding children from gunfire. The posthumous Ashoka Chakra recognises a courage most of us can only hope we'd find. What moves me is how an ordinary sense of duty became extraordinary sacrifice in an instant. To me her brief life is a reminder that heroism isn't a profession; it's a choice made when everything is at stake.

Overview

Neerja Bhanot (7 September 1963 – 5 September 1986) was an Indian flight attendant. On 5 September 1986, she saved a large number of passengers on board Pan Am Flight 73, which had been hijacked by four Palestinian terrorists from the Abu Nidal Organization after it made a stopover at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. Profile

Name (English): Neerja Bhanot
Name (Japanese): ニーラ・バノット
Reading: にーら・ばのっと
Born: September 7, 1963 – September 5, 1986
Zodiac / Chinese zodiac: Virgo / Rabbit
Origin: Chandigarh, India
Blood type: Private
Height: Private
Agency: Private
Occupation: flight attendant / model

2. Background

Elementary school: Private
Junior high: Private
High school: Private
University: St. Xavier's College

Awards & achievements

1987 Ashoka Chakra

3. Relationships

Spouse: Private
Children: Private
Parents: Private
Siblings: Private

4. Personality

Motto

Private

6. Links

Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%8B%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%90%E3%83%8E%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88

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