4 days ago
From The Hindu, August 7, 1975: Hitch delays flight of plane with Gunmen
Kuala Lumpur, August 6: Five terrorists who held 52 hostages in the U.S. Consulate for two days boarded a plane at Kuala Lumpur airport to-day and officials said they would leave for Libya at 8 a.m. local time (6 a.m. IST) to-morrow.
The five still held 15 of their hostages aboard the plane, including the U.S. Consul, Mr. R. Stebbins and the Swedish Charge d' Affaires Mr. Bergenstrahle.
Officials said they were to be released in exchange for two Malaysian and two Japanese Government officials who would accompany the terrorists to Libya as substitute hostages.
The two Malaysians were named as Mr. Ramli Omar, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Communications and Mr. Osman Cassim, Secretary-General of the Home Ministry.
According to American officials here, the Libyan Government had agreed to accept the guerillas.
Meanwhile, the five Japanese radicals who were released from Japanese prisons and flown to Kuala Lumpur as demanded by the terrorists, were waiting in an airport building to board the plane for the flight. After exhausting negotiations, the gunmen agreed this morning to leave the American International Assurance building which houses the U.S. and other embassies in downtown Kuala Lumpur and join their five comrades at the airport. Masked, wearing gloves and carrying automatic revolvers and hand grenades, they marched their 15 hostages along with them and made the 22 km drive to the airport in a large bus.
