Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - This Flight Got Hijacked - The Hijacking of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was hijacked on November 23, 1996, by three Ethiopian men seeking asylum in Australia. Shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa en route to Nairobi, the hijackers—armed with an axe and a fire extinguisher—stormed the cockpit and demanded the Boeing 767 fly to Australia, despite the captain warning they didn’t have enough fuel. Forced to keep flying, the aircraft eventually ran out of fuel over the Indian Ocean. The pilots attempted an emergency ditching near the Comoros Islands, but the plane struck the water at high speed, breaking apart.

So this flight, full of people, gets hijacked, and as you can see, this whole thing gets really crazy. So there's this guy, his name's Laul. And Laul is about 42 years old, and he's an airline pilot working for Ethiopian Airlines. And Laul, he's a good pilot. All he ever wants to do is get his passengers to their destination safely. But one day, in 1996, something crazy gets in the way of that. Because it's just another routine flying day, a commercial flight out of Ethiopia with a few stops in other countries in Africa. And so Laul is flying this plane and there are 175 passengers on board.

And when they hit cruising altitude, suddenly, boom, three men stand up. And they run through the aisle up to the front of the plane and they rush into the cockpit. And there they grab an axe that's there in the cockpit for like fires and stuff. And they're like, pow, pow! and they start punching the first officer, and they toss him into the main cabin. And one of the hijackers takes over his seat, and he looks at Lael sitting in the seat next to him,

and he's like, we've got a bomb. Fly us to Australia right now, or we'll blow the plane up. Now, these guys don't really have a bomb, but Laul doesn't know that, and he has no reason not to believe them, and he wants to follow their demands so that the passengers don't get hurt. Here's the immediate problem with following their demands.

This plane doesn't have enough fuel to get from Ethiopia to Australia. They'd have to plan for a trip that long. And so Leol's like, Uh, we don't have enough fuel to get to where you want to go. And the hijackers, they think he's lying, and they start arguing with him and yelling at him. And so finally, Le'ul's like, fine, I'll take you there. First, I need to hit up air traffic control and let them know I'm going off course.

So then he radios air traffic control. And of course, he immediately tells them, We've been hijacked and they want me to fly to Australia. And Air Traffic Control is like, you don't have enough fuel to make it to Australia. And Laul's like, I know, that's what I said. And air traffic control is like, all right, let us talk to these hijackers. And so Laul flips a switch and now the hijackers can hear air traffic control. And air traffic control is like, you can't make it to Australia.

That's a six-hour trip. And you've only got two hours worth of fuel. And the hijackers aren't listening and they get all mad and they start arguing more. And ultimately, they make Lael stop communicating with air. air traffic control. And so now, Laul is there alone with the hijackers, and he doesn't know what he's going to do. And so instead of immediately turning the plane toward Australia, he low-key keeps flying south along the African coastline. That way, if and when they run out of fuel, there will likely be an airport somewhere nearby, and he can try and land at it. However, eventually the

hijackers notice what he's doing, and they get all mad again, and they're like, what are you doing? You better take us to Australia. So Leoul has no other choice. He turns the plane and he heads toward Australia knowing that they're inevitably at some point going to crash in the middle of the ocean. So a few hours pass and they're still flying along and after a while they're pretty far away from where they started. And Leol, he pulls out an Atlas and he's acting like he's making sure the plane is on the correct course to Australia and he's like flipping through the pages and that is when he sees the Camaro Islands, which is like a small set of islands near Madagascar, which if you're looking at a map of Africa, the Camaro Islands are right there. And so Laul starts thinking maybe the

plane could make it there. Maybe we'll land there and everything will be fine and me and all the passengers will end up safe. Until. At some point suddenly an alarm in the cockpit starts going off, saying that they're running out of fuel. So now they're all screwed. And Laul, he's trying to stay calm, but bro, inside he is panicking. And he really just wants to let all the passengers know what's about to happen. That pretty soon their plane is going to start going down. Because they have no idea at this point what's going on. They know the plane's been hijacked, but they don't know any details beyond that. And so Laul, he wants to let them know, but the hijackers won't let him. In fact, they threaten to unalive him if he does.

So, Leuul, he just chills and he waits. And pretty soon, the Camaro Islands come into view. And Laul is thinking, okay, instead of flying any further, I'll just start circling the islands. Maybe the hijackers won't notice. And as he's flying in circles, bam, the plane's right engine suddenly flames out. And an alarm starts going off saying the right engine is out of gas. And this slows the plane down and it starts to descend on its own. While this is going on, one of the hijackers leaves the cockpit to go talk to the other two hijackers who are in the main cabin.

As soon as that guy leaves, Leuil jumps on the plane's PA system to address the passengers. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot. We have run out of fuel and we are losing one engine at a time. And we are expecting a crash landing. And so the hijackers, they can obviously hear this and they get super pissed and they come back in the and they're like, you mother fucker! And they knock the microphone out of his hand, and they start messing with the buttons,

and they try to take over control of the aircraft. Then suddenly, bam, the plane's left engine flames out, and an alarm starts going off saying the left engine has run out of gas. And so that's it. They are officially, completely out of fuel. Both engines are off, and the plane is gliding in big circles, slowly descending downward. Not only that, because Laul was fighting with the hijackers,

hijackers, he has lost visual sight of the islands. And so he can't land there now because he can't see where the airport is. Plus, a lot of the electrical equipment has stopped working. So not only is the plane gliding downward, he can't really use the equipment to slow it down. So they're all just plummeting to their inevitable death. But then, Lael gets a crazy idea. Why don't I try to land this thing in the ocean? I mean, the plane is going way too fast to pull this off, but I mean, it's really the only other option he has.

And of course, he's always thinking of the passengers. And so he gets on the PA system again, and he tells the passengers to put on their life jackets because they're all going down in the water. And they all do. And somehow, he convinces those dumbass hijackers to let the first officer back in the cockpit to help him with the controls so he can land this thing. So now, Leoul and the first officer are flying the plane. And the hijackers, they're just like standing there like, huh, hope this goes well. And so the plane continues to get closer and closer to the water. And it's coming in hot.

And there's a beach nearby. And the tourists, they're all watching this like, yo, what the fuck? Is not a plane? And at least one person grabs a camera and starts recording and actually gets footage of the plane about to hit the water. And as you can see here, the plane is gliding over the ocean, and it starts to hit the surface. And... Now, I can't actually show you the plane crashing, nor do I want to. It's way too tragic, and this app would probably flag my video for that.

But, as you already know, kaboon, the plane hits the water, and it crashes and it splits open. Sometime later, Leu opens his eyes, and the plane is completely destroyed, but he's actually alive. And so the first officer pulls him out of the cockpit, and he looks around, and there are people everywhere, like standing on the plane wreckage. And somehow a lot of the passengers survived. But unfortunately, most of them did not. Of the 175 people on board, only 50 survived. And all three hijackers, though, they did not survive.