site.btaSeptember 3, 1996: Hemus Air Flight from Beirut to Varna Is Hijacked

On September 3, 1996, 22-year-old Palestinian Nadir Abdullah hijacked a Tu-154 plane operating a charter flight from the capital of Lebanon, Beirut, to the city of Varna, on the Northern Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. The crew consisted of eight Bulgarians, while Lebanese, Palestinians, Western European citizens were among the 150 passengers.  

Fifteen minutes before landing in Varna, Abdullah stormed into the cockpit and threatened to detonate a stick of dynamite he held in his hand, a device established to be fake later. The hijacker ordered the aircraft’s captain, Valter Kolev, to change the aircraft’s route and fly it to Oslo, Norway, but the captain refused, explaining that the plane needed to refuel.  

Immediately after landing in Varna at 3:32 pm, the airport was cordoned off, all domestic flights were cancelled, and incoming international flights were diverted to the closest airport in the town of Burgas, on the Southern Black Sea coast. The Palestinian refused to negotiate with the Bulgarian authorities and to release all the passengers unless after refuelling the plane took off for Oslo.   

Crew and authorities complied and after ensuring the passengers safety, the plane began its journey towards the Norwegian capital where it landed in Oslo Gardermoen Airport at 9:03 pm Bulgarian time. 

The head of the Romerike district (Southeastern Norway) police, Asbjorn Gran, negotiated with the hijacker, who demanded a lawyer and political asylum. Three representatives from the Bulgarian Embassy in Oslo also arrived to mediate. 

Nadir Abdullah was assigned a public defender, but he was denied political asylum. 

Norwegian authorities criticised the Bulgarian side for allowing the hijacked plane to continue to Oslo. Sofia responded that the Palestinian’s demands were met due to the potential risk of a terrorist attack. 

Abdullah spent eight weeks in custody. He was later sentenced to four years in prison, and in 1999 he was extradited to Lebanon, where he served the remainder of his sentence. 

He claimed that he was acting on the orders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, intending to crash the plane in the Norwegian capital as a protest against the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation.