Investigation Summary
Ten minutes after takeoff from Athens, three hijackers from the Abu Nidal Organization took control of the Boeing 737. The group's leader, Salem Chakore, began checking passports to segregate passengers. During this process, an Egyptian sky marshal, Methad Mustafa Kamal, drew a concealed handgun and killed Chakore, sparking a shootout that punctured the fuselage. The aircraft, suffering from depressurization, was forced to land at Malta's Luqa Airport. In Malta, the remaining hijackers, led by Omar Rezaq and including Bou Said Nar Al-din Mohammed, demanded fuel. When their demands were not met, Rezaq began a systematic execution of hostages, targeting Israeli and American passengers. Five passengers were shot; remarkably, three survived. Under pressure, the Maltese government permitted Egyptian Unit 777 commandos to intervene. The subsequent raid was catastrophic: commandos used approximately 2 kg of Semtex to blast through the fuselage, igniting the interior plastics and causing widespread suffocation. In the chaos, hijackers also lobbed grenades into the passenger cabin. Of the 98 people on board, 60 died: 56 passengers (including those executed earlier and those who died in the raid), 2 crew members, and 2 hijackers (Chakore killed in flight and Nar Al-din Mohammed killed in the raid). Omar Rezaq was the sole surviving hijacker.
Final Conclusions
The high death toll was attributed to a combination of the hijackers' violence and the tactical failures of the Egyptian rescue team. The use of high explosives (Semtex) to enter the aircraft caused a lethal fire and toxic fumes that suffocated dozens of passengers. The only surviving hijacker, Omar Rezaq, was initially imprisoned in Malta but was later released and eventually apprehended by the FBI in Nigeria in 1993. He was extradited to the United States, where he was sentenced to life in prison in 1996.
Photographic Evidence (1)
Video Analysis
096: Hijacking, Egypt Air Flight 648 (Part 1) - Robert Clifford and Kevin Foust — Retired FBI agents review the international terrorism investigation of the hijacking of EgyptAir Flight 648 and the subsequent rescue attempt by Egyptian commandos.
If playback is blocked, the owner has disabled embedding — use the link above.
Systems & Failure Modes
Fuselage Pressurization
The fuselage was punctured by bullets during the initial mid-air shootout, causing rapid depressurization and forcing an emergency descent to 14,000 feet.
Unit 777 Tactical Equipment
The Egyptian special forces used high-velocity explosives to breach the luggage and passenger doors, which ignited the aircraft's interior materials.
Interesting Facts
- 01The hijacking was carried out by the Abu Nidal Organization, the same group responsible for the Pan Am Flight 73 hijacking.
- 02Three of the five passengers shot in the head by the hijackers survived their injuries.
- 03Egyptian commandos used 2 kg of Semtex to breach the aircraft, which was significantly more than required for entry.
- 04The majority of fatalities were caused by suffocation from fumes generated by the explosive breach and subsequent fire.
- 05Omar Rezaq was the only hijacker to survive the raid and was later prosecuted in the United States.
Safety Actions & Advisories
Extraterritorial Jurisdiction
The case helped establish the FBI's extraterritorial jurisdiction, allowing the agency to investigate terrorist attacks against Americans overseas.
Known Controversies & Unanswered Questions
Cause of Fire
Reference ↗Maltese authorities claimed the Egyptian commandos' explosives ignited the aircraft's interior, while other reports suggested hijackers threw grenades into the cabin when the raid began.
Location
ACCIDENT SITE · Coordinates taken from the wikidata coordinate.