Can anyone tell me the story ?? about her ??? Cause it just says she saved some people etc etc....nothing else.

Neerja Bhanot was the senior purser on Pan Am flight 73, which was hijacked on a stopover in Karachi, Pakistan on its scheduled service from Bombay to Frankfurt, Germany and New York in september of 1986.

The entire cabin crew was very junior! All the flight attendants were Indian nationals and in their early 20´s. In fact they were all hired less than a year before the tragic hijacking. They were the first group of flight attendants being recruited by Pan Am in India to establish a Bombay Flight Attendant Base! This made Neerja Bhanot the senior purser at the age of only 23.

4 armed, brutal gunmen took over the plane on the ground in Karachi, with more than 300 people onboard. The flightdeck crew escaped through the cockpit windows, after being warned through interphone by one of the flight attendants. This left the Boeing 747 without pilots and Neerja and the other young flight attendants in charge of the violent situation. There was not much they could do, but calming passengers and hijackers. They also hid the passports of many Americans as they feared the hijackers would single them out. After 17 hours the APU went off and the aircraft dark and powerless. The terrorists obviously in shock and panic started to pray and then opened an unaimed gunfire in the cabin trying to kill as many people as possible, they also threw handgrenades. At this point Neerja Bhanot and some other flight attendants were able to open emergency exits, deploy evacuation slides and leading many passengers to safety. The hijackers attacked Neerja Bhanot, as she tried to shield three children from bullits. She was badly wounded, taken off the aircraft alive by her fellow crewmembers, but later died of massive bleeding.

Neerja Bhanot was posthumiously awarded one of Indias most prestigious awards and was the first woman ever to recieve it!

She was very brave. But it is surprising to know that it took so long for Americans to recognize her sacrifice. But at least it is better late then never.