Neerja Banot was the daughter of Harish Bhanot and rama bhanot .She was born in Chandigarah and brought up in Mumbai. Neerja was selected as a flight attendant in Pan Am in the year 1985.
She boarded a flight pan Am 73, Mumbai to United States, which got hijacked at Karachi airport Pakistan. There were total 365 passengers and 19 crew members.The aim of the terrorist was to free Palestinian prisoners in Cyprus.
When Neerja sensed a hijack she alerted the pilots and as the plane was on the tarmac, the pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer left the plane through an overhead hatch, so that the plane cannot fly from the airport.The terrorist, dragged one of the American traveler in the starting minute of hijack and shot him. They instructed Neerja to collect passport of all other passengers to know who are Americans.
But Neerja and other crew members hid the passports of 43 Americans on plane. After 17 hours the hijackers fired and set bombs. Neerja opened emergency door and guided everyone out. The terrorist noticed her helping others to escape and she was shot at point blank while protecting three American children from gun fire.