Flight 601 on May 30, 1973 was a completely routine event. Just one more home service, like thousands of others around the world today. And it’s not particularly long. The aircraft in question, Lockheed Electra HK-1274, owned by the now-defunct Colombian airline Sociedad Aeronáutica de Medellín (SAM), was supposed to fly between the cities of Cali, Pereira and Medellín, a pleasant service with dozens of passengers.

The problem, as the BBC recalls, was that at one point two of these passengers covered their faces with hoods, took out their weapons and informed the crew that they would take control of the ship from then on. What is considered one of the longest air hijackings in aviation history and the longest act of air piracy in Latin America has begun.

A routine SAM air service lasting just a few hours eventually turned into a Homeric adventure that lasted more than 60 hours and covered a 24,000-kilometer journey with a dozen landings and takeoffs. Now, more than half a century later, Netflix has dedicated a six-episode miniseries delving into the details of the incident. The piece is already triumphing in Mexico.

That 1973 flight. Another domestic flight. This must have been the itinerary covered by SAM airline aircraft KH-1274 on May 30, 1973. audienceThe Colombian newspaper that reported the incident recalls that the ship took off from Bogotá shortly after one o’clock in the afternoon for a flight to Medellín and stops in Cali and Pereira.

However, their initial plans went awry when passengers heard an explosion after taking off from Pereira. When they returned, they saw two men, two hooded men holding guns, and announced that the plane was under their control. There were even some who took it as a joke.

mass kidnapping. There were 84 people on board who saw how a quiet journey between Colombian cities turned into an act of air piracy amidst guns, hoods and screams. One more. As Italian journalist Massimo Di Ricco stated in his book ‘The Cursed of the Air’, which inspired the Netflix series, airplane hijackings were on the agenda in the 70s. According to his calculations, between 1967 and 1973, about 90 planes were taken in this way across Latin America, 30 of which were in Colombia.

ELN members? In the case of the SAM airline’s commercial flight in May 1973, the hijackers posed as members of the guerrilla National Liberation Army (ELN), an organization that had been dogged by the Colombian press for weeks due to a police raid. Several members of the group were allegedly arrested.

After seizing control of the ship, the kidnappers made two demands from the authorities: the release of Colombian political prisoners and a ransom of $200,000; they increased this amount to 400,000 and later reduced it to 170,000. His warnings were serious. The kidnappers warned the other passengers and crew that they had bombs that could explode.

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It’s a long (very long) journey. Flight 601 will not be a simple hijacking. Of course it’s not short. The journey lasted 60 hours and 15 minutes, covering 24,000 kilometers from different countries, with 12 landings and as many takeoffs. It lasted so long that it is considered the longest act of air piracy in Latin America and one of the most comprehensive in world aviation.

His journey is certainly worthy of the best Homeric chronicle. The kidnappers’ exact instructions vary from version to version, but they all agree on the same thing: They wanted to leave Colombia in the dust. audience While the kidnappers explained that they requested the pilot and co-pilot to direct the ship to Cuba, the BBC points out, based on an interview with a crew member, that what they wanted was to go to the island of Aruba, a possible intermediate stop. A more extensive escape to Central America.

Advances and setbacks. What we do know is that the ship first went to Aruba, then had to return to Aruba via Panama, Costa Rica and El Salvador without getting permission to land from the authorities. The plane took off again, first towards Guayaquil and then towards Lima. His journey would still take him to Mendoza and Buenos Aires in Argentina.

During this complex and far-reaching journey spanning thousands of kilometers, many passengers escaped from the plane and the hijackers released others. All the while, even more complex negotiations progressed to achieve the kidnappers’ real goal: $200,000 in loot. Because at that point things weren’t going as originally planned.

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200,000 no, 20,000 is better. SAM’s lawyer offered them a much lower amount of $20,000, and the Government eventually concluded that it could not meet the kidnappers’ demands. Finally, after many negotiations, hours of kidnapping, and an already extreme situation, the kidnapping couple received a briefcase worth $50,000.

The BBC explained that after more than 30 hours of flight, it was the captain of the plane himself who warned the hijackers that the ship needed maintenance, which forced them to look at Aruba again. SAM proposed a Solomonic solution: they would allow the crew to be replaced, and the new crew would offer him $50,000.

An ending worthy of Netflix. If the hijacking of Flight 601 is worthy of a movie (or miniseries), so is its ending. The British network explains that the plane, with the new crew and $50,000 on board, went first to Lima and then to Mendoza. At that point, only the hijackers and airline personnel were on board. From there, the plane moved first to Resistencia and then to Asunción, cities where the ship could not stay more than half an hour.

After more than 60 hours of hijacking, the plane reached Buenos Aires but… surprise: only the pilots and attendants got off the plane. During his investigation, Di Ricco discovered that the criminals had disembarked the plane at Resistencia and Asunción (each taking half of their loot) after reaching an agreement with the crew. This ruse did not go so well for one of the kidnappers. They caught him just five days later. Nothing more was known about the other.

But… Who were the kidnappers? Here is another surprising fact. Perhaps the most striking. Although they identified themselves as ELN members, the kidnappers had an interesting job: They were football players; Two athletes from Paraguay who do not have much wealth and want easy money: Eusebio Borja and Francisco Solano-López. In fact, one of the details that caught the most attention of the passengers traveling on Flight 601 was the “unclear” accent of the two men.

Reporter He explains that four years after the incident, he signed with the team América de Ambato, where they both met and became good friends. But sports success did not accompany them. América de Ambato was relegated to the second league and they parted ways before either of them could achieve great success. If he became world famous, it was due to another of his qualities away from the field: air piracy is profitable, especially for Eusebio Borja, who was never caught. Francisco was arrested and extradited to Colombia, where he was sentenced to several years in prison.

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